DELHI _ The historic Delhi Village Hall courtroom will no longer house court after Wednesday, as Delhi Town Court will be moved to the town hall.
Delhi Town Justice Joseph Skovira said Wednesday that there will be no regularly scheduled court on July 30 to allow time for the move.
Delhi formerly had both a town court and a village court, with Skovira serving as justice in both courts.
"At my suggestion, the two courts were joined until the village disbanded the village court in 2004," Skovira said.
Delhi Town Court has been held in the third-floor courtroom inside the village hall since the village court was dissolved, but an inspection by Dale Downin, acting village code enforcement officer, determined that the fire escape was not safe.
Downin's letter to Truscott said, "As per your request, I have inspected the fire escape and the existing conditions in the court room in the Village Hall and have found that the fire escape is unsafe to use for the amount of people that is allowed in that area."
"I'm sorry that (the court) is going," village Mayor David Truscott said Thursday. "I'm hoping it's temporary and that it can come back again, but the fire escape is not safe and we have to do something. We have a liability exposure." Truscott said he is hoping to get grant money to build a modern fire escape that will serve as a stairway to all three levels of the village hall.
"I am advocating for a regional justice court and a movement to consolidate several small area courts," Truscott said. "That space was once the county courtroom, and I would like to see it remain a courtroom."
Supervisor Peter Bracci said alterations have been made at the Delhi Town Hall until permanent arrangements can be completed, including altering the boardroom to serve as a courtroom.
"I have relinquished my office to the two judges and the clerk," Bracci said.
Bracci said Skovira and Delhi Town Justice Richard Gumo have identified grant money through the Office of Court Administration that can be used to enlarge the town hall building. That, Bracci said, would make room for the necessary court facilities at little cost to the taxpayers.
"The chief justice has been aware of the difficulties that forced us to leave the village hall courtroom," Bracci said.
Delhi historian Shirley Houck said the Delhi Village Hall was originally the second Delaware County Courthouse, replacing the original structure that burned on April 17, 1820.
The state Legislature voted to loan Delaware County $8,000 to build a courthouse, so using the loan and other funds, the wooden building was constructed in late 1820 or early 1821, Houck said.
In 1871, the county completed construction on a brick courthouse, and the wooden courthouse was sold at auction on March 29, 1869, to the village of Delhi. The building was moved and raised up to accommodate fire trucks, which were housed in the ground floor, and was eventually moved a second time, Houck said.
"The Anti-Rent War trials were held in the wooden courthouse, and that is also where returning Revolutionary War veterans applied for their pensions," Houck said.
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Patricia Breakey can be reached at 746-2894 or at stardelhi@stny.rr.com.
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