Renovation of a municipal facility in Snow Hill, Maryland. Conceptual plans call for the renovation of a municipal facility.

More than 1,100 hearings for divorce, child custody and truancy were held in Courtroom 4 during FY24. Attending the hearings are representatives from partner agencies including schools, probation and child protective services, along with the Magistrate, Clerk, Trust Clerk, one Bailiff, one Sheriff's Deputy, the plaintiff, defendant and counsel, child's counsel, and members of the public. According to the Worcester County Fire Marshals' Office, the capacity of this Courtroom is a maximum of 17 people seated in the gallery, 4 at the defense and plaintiff tables, and 4 on the bench. The Courtroom is an inadequate size at approximately 1,500 square feet, compared to 3,000 square feet or more in each of the other three courtrooms. The National Center for State Courts Best Practices for Court Building Security recommends keeping presentation tables a safe distance away from the bench and establishing separate courtroom entrances for judges and court staff. To access the bench in Courtroom 4, the Magistrate must walk through the Family Services conference room, causing disruption to ongoing scheduled conferences and jeopardizing her safety. Once seated at the bench, the Magistrate hearing and ruling on the cases is located only six feet from the defendant and plaintiff tables. The security risk presented by the current configuration is heightened by the fact that the types of cases heard in Courtroom 4 are often emotional and volatile and are recognized as the most dangerous cases heard by the Court. The renovation is requested to expand the size of Courtroom 4 to provide distance between parties to the case, and also to centralize the offices and the intake/reception area of Family Services to improve public access. Currently, the office of the Forensic Child Custody evaluator is located on the Courthouse second floor, away from the rest of Family Services Staff on the first floor. The current public intake area is insufficiently sized to accommodate the more than 1,700 in-person requests for assistance annually. Like many older Courthouses in Maryland, room for expansion by the Court and Clerk's office would not be possible without removal of some existing offices including the Register of Wills and some divisions of the Clerk of Court. Approximately 2,000 additional square feet of office space will need to be allocated for some divisions of the Clerk of Court and the Register of Wills, but consolidation of some current storage space could reduce that number. The renovation requested will expand Courtroom 4 and Family Services offices. $100,000 was awarded from the FY2023 Fund Balance by the Commissioners for an evaluation of the project. $225,000 is included in the estimate below to relocate approximately 2,0000 square feet for the Clerk of Court and Register of Wills offices during and after construction. As of August 23, 2025, The project is include in the City's 2026-2030 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) *Project information has been obtained through a public capital improvement plan (CIP). A CIP is a financial schedule for short- and long-range projects which is updated regularly. Information listed in the CIP often evolves based on funding availability and the project details, including timeline and value, are subject to change. The content management team will continue to pursue additional details as they become available.