Officials Satisfied After Hectic Opening Day in New Courthouse : Simi Valley: Many people go to the old location by mistake. But once the confusion is sorted out, the facility proves a hit.

After a balky start Monday morning, the new Ventura County courthouse in Simi Valley was in full swing with court commissioners handing out dozens of traffic fines and settling small claims disputes in rapid succession.

By the end of the day, Municipal Commissioner John Paventi had presided over 76 traffic-related hearings and a dozen small-claims cases. A colleague down the hall heard 40 traffic hearings and dispatched 25 small-claims cases.

“All things considered, we did OK,” said Florence Prushan, assistant Ventura County courts executive officer.

On a normal day, Paventi averages more than 100 traffic hearings. But on Monday, the opening of the new $11.1-million East County Courthouse confused many people unfamiliar with its location in the city’s civic center.

When the courthouse opened at 8 a.m., about 20 people were waiting in a line outside the building in the 3300 block of Alamo Street, said security officer Mary Riddle.

About twice that number were standing outside the old courthouse on Cochran Street several blocks away, trying to make out the handwritten sign on the door with directions and a hastily drawn map of the new courthouse location.

A clerk was eventually dispatched to help sort out the confusion.

“I went over at noontime also and directed traffic,” Prushan said.

The new two-story, 76,800-square-foot courthouse has five courtrooms, one jury deliberation room, a judge’s chambers, a clerk’s office and five holding cells--all on the ground floor. The second floor has the offices of the Ventura County district attorney, the public defender and Supervisor Vicky Howard.

Howard, whose office was still cluttered with moving boxes, said she was impressed by the overall quality of the building. “Simi Valley deserves to have something nice,” she said.

Prushan agreed, saying the new facility is a far cry from the 21-year-old, one-room courthouse on Cochran Street.

She said the old courthouse was so cramped and overloaded with cases that at times a judge would hold traffic court in the staff’s kitchen area.

The new courthouse not only provides more room, but greater convenience for east county residents. For the first time, area residents will be able to file Superior Court cases there, including civil lawsuits, divorce and child custody cases, and probate matters. The Simi Valley courthouse will continue to accept Municipal Court filings, as it has in the past.

But hearings on cases other than those in traffic court and small-claims court will still be heard at the main courthouse in Ventura because a shortage of state funds does not allow a full staff of judges at the Simi Valley courthouse, Prushan said.

She said in addition to Paventi, there will occasionally be a temporary judge, such as the one on Monday, to handle cases in Simi Valley.

Prushan said that eventually the courthouse will be able to try all Municipal and Superior Court cases in the east county, which is defined as the area east of the Conejo Grade.

Simi Valley resident Kevin Manley, who stopped by the courthouse to seek dismissal of a traffic ticket, said he appreciated that the new courthouse is located in the city’s civic center.

“It’s nice to have it centrally located,” he said. “I’m perfectly thrilled. It was definitely needed.”

But not everyone was impressed.

“It smells good,” said Tim Bross, who showed up to pay a traffic fine. “But my opinion is that $11 million is extremely extravagant.”

Bross, a construction contractor, said he thought that the building could have been completed for less money.

In fact, the building was $3 million over budget, partly due to planning problems and partly to special features that had to be added, such as bulletproof glass in courtroom doorways and handicap-access ramps to the judges’ benches, said Robert Goulet, the county public works director.