The chairman of the Senate budget committee that pays for the courts flayed two Florida appellate judges Wednesday for their role in constructing a new 1st District Court of Appeal building critics have dubbed the "Taj Mahal" for its perceived grandeur while other courts struggle under budget constraints.
Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Chairman Mike Fasano invited 1st DCA Judges Paul Hawkes and Brad Thomas, along with employees from the Office of State Court Administration and the Department of Management Services, to testify about the building of the 1st DCA courthouse, a $48.8 million domed building with granite countertops and imported African mahogany.
Fasano, R- New Port Richey, called the building one of the greatest embarrassments of state government, noting the building came in roughly $17 million over initial estimates and has luxury features, while other court buildings havent been remodeled in years.
If we have to stand here today and come back in two weeks, come back again and again, were going to find out why this 1st District Court of Appeal was built in the way it was, Fasano said.
A few other lawmakers have launched verbal assaults at the Department of Management Services and the 1st DCA judges over the project. Over the summer, Senate President Mike Haridopolos asked DMS Secretary Linda South to resign. South has only recently stepped down because newly inaugurated Gov. Rick Scotts administration did not wish to keep her on in that position.
Some committee members noted on Wednesday, though, that the Legislature was partly at fault. The majority of the funding for the building came through a last-minute and little-noticed amendment to a transportation bill that allowed the state to bond the project.
We can go out and find individuals who may have used that opportunity to take advantage of something and create something that excessive, said Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville. But the ultimate buck stops here with this Florida Legislature.
Both Hawkes and Thomas defended their roles in the building of the courthouse, saying they acted appropriately, but did offer their apologies to lawmakers if they went beyond the scope of the Legislatures intent.
And Haridopolos said it is time for the Legislature to move on.
I think weve learned plenty, said Haridopolos, when asked Wednessday about Fasanos effort to investigate how the building came to be. I think hes [Fasano] had his action and I think its time we start focusing on the budget. Whether we like it or not, those dollars were spent. I hope everyone has learned their lesson. Im glad were going to have a new person at DMS because I think the person at DMS failed the state.
The building is open judges moved in last month. So now, what?
One suggestion floated by Fasano was a rules change that would prohibit the Senate from taking up bills that had been amended during the last 72 hours of the legislative session. Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady is also studying the feasibility of putting employees from the Office of State Court Administration into the new courthouse along with the appeals court instead of leasing private office space for that agency.
Canady, in a letter read to the committee by State Court Administrator Lisa Goodner, said that though DMS was responsible for the construction of the building, he shared the committees concern about the courthouse. Canady was a judge on the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland when the state appropriated the money for the new Tallahassee building a few years ago.
Courthouses should be dignified, durable, and functional, he wrote. They should not be grandiose, monumental, and luxurious.
Hawkes said the judges had done everything to make sure the process was transparent, to which Fasano angrily snapped back, Transparent? Some of the criticism over how the court got funded has been about the fact that the project was made possible by an amendment that many lawmakers later said they were unaware of.
Fasano and other committee members peppered Hawkes and Thomas with questions about their role and whether they had acted improperly in requesting certain items for the courthouse. In particular, Fasano honed in on the African mahogany, practically yelling at Hawkes that the Legislature did not authorize such an expensive wood to be used.
Hawkes said that the wood was suggested by the architect and that the judges saw nothing wrong with it, adding that they did not know anything about it or how expensive it might be.
Fasano said after the meeting that he felt that he did not get all the answers he wanted out of the judges and hopes that the committee can hold future meetings to further continue to raise questions about the court.
They avoided answering the questions, he said. They truly sure are experts in playing dodge ball.
