District Judge Denise Dieter informed the public about plans for district court facilities at the Woodward Township supervisors’ October meeting..

“I received a number of inquiries from some of the municipalities in this district after they had read the newspaper about the new building that the counties were proposing to construct,” Dieter began. “And so I just thought it might not be that idea to come visit the municipalities and kind of fill everybody in on what’s going on.”

She first explained that “we’re going to get a new building at some point here.”

Dieter said that “after an exhaustive search, we found two acres of land.” Dieter said the two acres are by Ecks Agway which is on, according to Google Maps, Hill Alley and the Pine Creek Rail Trail is directly behind it.

She expects the building to be about “4,600 square feet…that is significantly larger than the existing building that we’re in” and the “key things that were important to me after being in our building on Market Street in (Jersey Shore), was the size of the courtroom.”

The current courtroom has “no more than 10 chairs for individuals to be present, the public, or whoever…because it’s so small.” The new structure will have “room for (about) 27 people to be in and sit and watch, in addition to the tables for the parties and the attorneys.”

Dieter said “individuals don’t seem to come alone to their hearings.” When her court has “maybe eight to 10 preliminary hearings, like we did this morning, and you would think it would be the defendant and maybe a family member,” Dieter said.

In many cases the defendants will bring a close family, a significant other with a friend, as well as extended members of the family.

“At one point about a month ago, we had 101 people come through in three hours. And it was so crowded that we needed to have people wait outside until we could get people through,” Dieter said.

The judge noted sometimes its important to try to keep hostile parties apart.

“We will be able to have the waiting room divided. When you go through the foyer, there will be a waiting area to the right and a waiting area to the left, which will enable the deputy to keep people separated and keep the temperature down,” Dieter said.

Prisoners will have what is called a “sallyport” area “where the prisoners are transferred from the prisons to the courthouse.”

The prison vehiclesl “will have their own garage and they will bring them in. (The new courthouse will) have actual holding cells for males and females. And an area where the attorney.”

Dieter said she expects construction to begin in 2026 along with “some additional safety measures as far as that goes, and overall, it would be larger, safer, and well laid out, well planned.”

On a different subject, she updated a diversionary program she implemented for troubled students in school. She had been working with the Jersey Shore Area School district to help at-risk young people.

It was a “a new program that I created for the first time offenders for the juveniles in this district and I called it my diversionary program.”

Dieter said the goal was to “bring…in first time offenders and put together a program individualized for that student or a young person.”

If the student “completed the tasks or components” that they were assigned and agreed to, “then their charges would be dismissed.”

“I am just a little over two years from the completion of the first individual that started in the program and and what I wanted to share was that there was nearly 50 students (or persons under 18) that have gone through,” she said. “And I have 94% completion rate, which is just wonderful.”

Even the one student who “didn’t complete it for whatever reason, I still allowed to go through the community service component of the program. And as a result, she is now in the high school and in a nursing program. So it’s working.”

One example of a task was “I had two young men that were seniors, and they got into a fist fight in the cafeteria. I brought them in at the same time, but didn’t bring them in the courtroom at the same time. I talked to each of them individually with their parents, and what I learned was that they really didn’t understand the differences between them. They didn’t appreciate their differences.”

Dieter “contacted the school..(because) I needed their cooperation with it and they said they would monitor, and I had them…sit together at lunch for a whole semester, the second semester of their senior year.”

The two young men ended “the best of friends. So we’re trying to do like restorative justice in a way.”

She continued with other positive outcomes that occurred because of the program.

Also in the meeting, Board Chairman Jeffrey Stroehmann discussed blighted properties in regards to unfinished business.

“I’m hoping after if we’re able to take action on the consideration of the zoning officer tonight, and we will be able to move forward on that,” he said.

He added, “I’d like to thank Pam for stepping up to take that zoning officer position. I’m sure I spoke for the other supervisors that that much we appreciate.

If dealing with the difficult situation…losing the zoning officer and the inability to replace (that person).”

Musser, the town secretary and treasurer, will handle the paperwork while another party will handle the groundwork.

Also at the Supervisor meeting, the board approved paying bills, the greatest of which was $3,194.27 for payroll.