KEALAKEKUA — Staff at the Kealakekua location of the county prosecutor’s office spent Tuesday moving supplies and furniture to an adjacent location in an effort to expand.
“We’ve outgrown this space, which is why we negotiated for the other,” said First Deputy Prosecutor Dale Ross.
At about 8,500 square feet between the two offices, Ross said prosecutors and staff are looking forward to the day they get to move into a new building in Kailua-Kona.
In January, a bid was awarded to Isemoto Contracting Co. Ltd. to construct the new prosecutor’s office, which will be built at the West Hawaii Civic Center campus on the south side of Building G. Notice to proceed is scheduled to be issued in mid-March, according to Barett Otani, information and education specialist for the county Department of Public Works.
With a price tag of just more than $14 million, the project is slated to be completed one year after the notice to proceed has been given.
To make room for the 28 employees, the additional office space in Kealakekua will house four counselors and two clerical assistants from the Victim Services Unit.
The office the counselors are vacating is to make room for a federal probation officer who currently commutes to the Hilo location of the prosecutor’s office. A legal assistant, working in a cubical at the Kealakekua location, also will move into the recently opened space.
“It’d be nice to have a space to have staff meetings,” Ross said. “Right now, we’re using the library area.”
The new prosecutor’s office will be approximately 11,000 square feet and about 3 miles from the new courthouse on Makala Boulevard.
Construction of the new courthouse began in October 2016. Jan M. Kagehiro, state Judiciary spokeswoman, said the building is on schedule to be complete by late spring 2019, with a planned opening later that summer.
There are four different courtrooms in three different locations in Kona. The new courthouse will have five.
Email Tiffany DeMasters at tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com.