ELKINS — The new courtroom for Randolph County’s second circuit court judge won’t be ready until February, officials said.

Randolph County Commission President David Kesling told The Inter-Mountain that material delays is one of several reasons why the James F. Cain Courthouse Annex site isn’t ready for newly elected Circuit Court Judge Jaymie Godwin Wilfong, who was originally scheduled to move into her new offices on Jan. 1.

“Right now we are looking at probably the first week in February

before it’s ready,” Kesling said. “We’ve been waiting on the bulletproof material that will encase her bench and we have also been waiting on some doors and door frames. Because we’ve added a bunch of doors with key fob systems, none of the frames will work.”

Kesling said the Commission has offered Wilfong — who was sworn in as the new Division 2 judge for Randolph County on Dec. 27 — workspace in the Cain Annex until the new facilities are finished.

“We have offered her the conference room and some rooms upstairs in the commission office,” he said. “She has been working with Judge (David) Wilmoth and adjusting her schedule to make sure she doesn’t have a whole lot going on until her offices and courtroom are established.”

Wilfong formerly served as both a circuit judge and a family court judge in Randolph County before being elected to her new position during the May 2024 Primary Election.

In the spring of 2023, House Bill 3332 created new judicial circuits for the state and assigned the number of judges each circuit would have. Under the new law, Randolph was one of the counties to receive a second judge.

Kesling said there were several other factors that led to the new courtroom and offices not being ready by Jan. 1.

“Waiting on the Supreme Court to get an approved blueprint on how they wanted the new area laid out took some time,” said Kesling “Then after that we had to get Judges Wilmoth and Wilfong’s input on it.

“We had to put the project out to bid, and get all the Commission stuff moved out of the Cain Annex. So there was a lot of work to do even before they could start construction,” he said.

“Delays with materials being on backorder is the biggest hurdle right now. But even after that, the Supreme Court has to come in and run all the cabling and data that runs to her bench and her offices — they take care of all of that.”