Overall, Hinton told the board, the project will be around $15,000 and will be phased in starting with the superior courtroom first. “We will eat the elephant in small bites,” she said.

Installing wireless Internet in the superior courtroom will be the most costly and the plan is to then install it in courtroom 2 and then courtroom 3.

The measure comes at a time, the judge said, when most lawyers have tablets or iPads but don't have the ones with a built-in wireless system.

It also comes at a time when the state has gone to electronic discovery in which information an attorney needs for a case is sent via email. “It's so much more efficient. There are cases where discovery is two to three reams. It's a more efficient use of court time,” she said.

While Hinton was looking for funding in the next budget year, which starts in July, Commissioner Marcelle Smith recommended allocating the $8,000 in the current fiscal year to get the project under way. Commissioner Patrick Qualls made the motion to take the money from contingency.

“We understand it's a big chunk,” Hinton said, adding, “It will be less expensive now than in the future. It will help them as they prepare for trial.”

Answering a question posed by Qualls, Hinton said having the court wired should make it faster and more efficient.

Jail funding

Meanwhile, in a matter related to the legal system, commissioners approved a $250,000 allocation to Sheriff Wes Tripp for additional funds for housing inmates in other jails.

In a memo to the board Tripp wrote, “Following the cancellation of the jail expansion project, the county elected to house inmates in other jails when the Halifax County Detention Center was overcrowded and exceeded the population of 85.”

Initially, the sheriff wrote, the sheriff's office was housing 10 inmates a month in Northampton County at a cost of $40 per day per inmate. “Since we started housing inmates in other jails, we have seen a population increase and reduction in capacity following the state's requirement that we reduce population from 95 to 85. In the last three months, we have seen an increase in cost per month of housing inmates as more inmates must be housed in Northampton County and others when we exceeded the number of available beds from (Northampton) Sheriff (Jack) Smith's office.”

Tripp said near the end of October, Halifax sent 10 inmates to the Caswell County Jail because Northampton County could not house any more felons. “The initial budget for inmates is not sufficient to fund housing inmates elsewhere for the remainder of the year.”

Commissioner Rives Manning made the motion to take the money from fund balance and the matter passed after a second by Commissioner Rachel Hux.