Ponca City’s Court House moving out of Post Office

By Beverly Bryant/News Director

The Ponca City branch of the Kay County Court House is moving from the second floor of the Ponca City Post Office.

District Court Clerk Marilee Thornton said Tuesday she was notified in April that the Oklahoma Supreme Court would not fund the $58,000 annual rent for the space in the coming fiscal year ending June 30.

Thornton said she went back to the Supreme Court with a plan to rent a smaller, less expensive space in the City Center Building (formerly known as the Commercial Federal Building) at 400 East Central Avenue, Suite 100.

The new space will cost just under $17,000 a year, Thornton said.

Residents will still be able to file small claims cases, civil actions and divorces in the new Ponca City offices, but must go to Newkirk for any courtroom actions. Passports also will still be processed in the Ponca City office.

"The closest place to Kay County to get passports is Stillwater or Wichita," Thornton said. "We processed 379 passports from Jan. 1 to April 30."

Thornton said the current office will close June 22 with hopes of reopening at the new location on July 1. The new space is located one block behind the post office, she said.

She said County Commissioners are working to find storage for all the furniture in the clerk’s office and the courtroom on the second floor of the post office.

Thornton said the courtroom formerly was used by the federal Circuit Court.