BENNINGTON — The local Office of the Public Defender has secured new space in the downtown following a search that was hastened along last summer by mold issues at the former location.
Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio said the office at 310 Main St. is “a much more modern and appreciably better space,” compared to the former location in an aging, woodframe building at 411 Gage St. that was in need of renovation.
The new site is on the second floor of the Citizens Bank building just west of the Four Corners intersection.
Valerio said in August that a search for a larger office because of an increasing caseload was accelerated with the discovery of mold issues, prompting an immediate relocation of attorneys and staff to temporary space in the 324 Main St. building that houses Community College of Vermont in Bennington.
The state Division of Planning, Policy and Use sought proposals to lease new, permanent space for the public defender’s office.
The new offices are approximately the same distance from the courthouse on Veterans Memorial Drive, just off North Street, or Route 7, but the attorneys are now based in the central downtown.
Noting that moving the offices and setting up the internet, phone and other necessities “is a major undertaking,” Valerio added, “We were in our other place for over 20 years, and I hope we can do something similar here.”
Allen Palmer, a property management specialist with the state Division of Planning, Policy and Use, said the five-year lease agreement covers about 3,000 square feet of space in the new building.
The Vermont Office of the Defender General lists four attorneys under supervising attorney Frederick Bragdon in the Bennington County office, along with support staff.
The department provides constitutionally required legal representation for persons facing serious criminal charges who are judged indigent.
