The Alaska Court System awarded a $5.25 million contract to expand the Palmer Courthouse

The Alaska Court System awarded the contract to expand the Palmer Courthouse on June 12. Three weeks later the Legislature gave Palmer a fifth superior court judge. The courthouse did not have room for the four it already had.

YH Constructors won the job at $5,250,982 as the only responsive bidder. The court system's own estimate, in the sealed-bid solicitation it issued in April, was $4.95 million, about $301,000 below what it ended up paying. The four-phase expansion adds courtrooms, jury space and chambers. On-site work was required to begin by Aug. 15, and invoicing is due before the end of June 2027.

The judge came through House Bill 262, which the court system requested and which became law July 2. It raises the number of superior court judges in the third judicial district, which includes Palmer.

The court has been making this case for a long time. In its budget request for fiscal 2004, the court system told state budget writers that Palmer's caseload had reached more than 11 percent of all new cases filed statewide, that staffing had not kept up with the growth of the Mat-Su Valley, and that the Palmer court was "seriously understaffed in both judicial and non-judicial positions."

That was 23 years ago.