According to Brooke County Commissioner Tim Ennis, the magistrate and family courts are in need of a new building. He said a committee is currently in the process of working to find suitable space.

The current location is on the third floor of the Progressive Bank building in Wellsburg, and Ennis said this location was supposed to be temporary. However, he said, the offices have been there for three or four years.

He said the court was moved from the Brooke County Courthouse due to flooding. Now, he said, there are other issues in the current building.

"There's an issue with the fire escape, and the (West Virginia) Supreme Court wants that to be addressed. And we are under some Constitutional requirements with these offices. They have to be housed in the county seat, which is Wellsburg, and there's issues with the flooding in Wellsburg, so that's always an issue to try to find some space," Ennis said.

He added that space is also needed for the prosecutor's office. The former prosecutor, David Cross, had his own practice, he said, so he was able to work out of his own office. However, the new prosecutor, Joe Barki, does not have his own building.

Ennis said the committee is considering a couple of locations, one of them being the vacant building that used to house St. John School.