Construction of Lea County’s new Division 4 Magistrate (Municipal) Courthouse is underway. The building will be located at the intersection of Main Street and A Avenue in Lovington, and Magistrate Judge David E. Finger is delighted. 

The building site is the now vacant property that some 30 years ago housed a Mobile gas station. Four other county owned properties immediately to the north and the west of the building site are also a part of the project. 

Although no specific estimated price tag for the project has been officially announced, the figure of $6,000,000 is estimated to be the projected cost of the new facility. Occupancy is anticipated during the early part of 2023. 

At the groundbreaking ceremony held earlier this month, Magistrate Judge Finger commented that the current Division 4 court building no longer meets the needs of the community. “It’s  packed every day,” he said. “We need to get a new courthouse. The needs of the community demand it.” 

Judge Finger went on to provide a little history about the county’s original magistrate courthouse, commenting that it was a state-of-the-art facility when it was built in the 1930s. Still, it was constructed amidst controversy. Influential attorneys of the time fought for the building to be located in Hobbs not Lovington. However, officials and residents of Lovington, through unyielding tenacity, were successful in keeping the courthouse in their community – Lovington. 

At the groundbreaking ceremony Lovington Mayor David Trujillo, who was elected in March of 2018 and who was born and raised in Lovington, commented that Judge Finger alerted city officials of the need for a new courthouse some two years ago. Trujillo, then, credited Magistrate Judge Finger for securing the funds through Santa Fe for the construction of the new courthouse. 

Judge Finger was appointed to the bench as Division 4 Magistrate in March of 2011 by then Governor Susana Martinez. He replaced Judge Dwight L. Crenshaw who resigned in December of  2010. Judge Finger has since been re-elected to his position more than once. 

Lea County Commissioner Dean Jackson, who represents District 1, stated at the groundbreaking that all construction in Lovington “excites” him. He commented that Lovington, being the county seat of Lea County, “needs to be the jewel of the county.” 

The construction of the new magistrate courthouse across Main Street from the Lovington Public Library is a positive step in the direction to seeing Commissioner Jackson’s vision for the community achieved.