More than 4,500 boxes of paperwork will begin a journey tonight, from the Hall of Justice to the new Natrona County Townsend Justice Center across the street.

A dozen guys will load four trucks at the Hall of Justice, and a dozen more will unload them at their destination. Three nights later, they should be done.

That's just the files no longer being used by court officials. Starting Friday evening, active files and office furniture will be hauled to their new home, ready for use by court employees come Monday morning.

The move's been in the planning stages for about four months, according to Ed Opella, a Natrona County commissioner overseeing the move. He said that not all the employees are moving but most of the employees involved in the move should be ready to work Monday morning.

"My guess is there's going to be some more work going on that will delay the complete transition. After you move you're going to nick up some walls, someone's going to have to clean that up," Opella said. "The big consideration is a trial scheduled for Monday morning, making sure we're getting that trial up and moving."

Both the circuit court and district court, as well as their respective clerks, will be moving from their current locations to the Townsend center, Chief Deputy Clerk of District Court Anne Volin said. The vacated space in both the Natrona County Courthouse and the Hall of Justice will house other county offices, she said.

Clerk of the District Court Gen Tuma said in the weeks leading up to this move, her primary concern was making sure that child support payments weren't interrupted, and Volin said the move shouldn't affect payments.

"The contingency plan is to leave a satellite office that remains open in the courthouse," Volin said. "If some unforeseen problem occurs with the computer system, we can still process payments there."

Once everybody has moved, the cost of the project should ballpark in the $26 million range, including the land purchase, renovations, construction and another "flex courtroom" if the court were to get a fourth judge. The move itself is costing the county about $72,000.

State law requires counties to provide one 12-juror courtroom for each state district judge and staff. The expansion will provide offices for the Clerk of the District Court, records storage, security, prisoner holding cells and improved technology. The current courthouse at 201 N. Center has one full courtroom and a small courtroom, and limited security for the public, judges and defendants.

The county commissioners agreed on the new courthouse's name -- the Natrona County Townsend Justice Center -- last summer. The building was once the Townsend Hotel, and county commissioners agreed to omit the word "courthouse" from the building's name because people already recognize "the courthouse" as the location next to the Hall of Justice.

Reporter Tom Morton contributed to this report.

You can reach city reporter Pete Nickeas at (307) 266-0639. You can read more about Casper politics and government at http://tribtown.trib.com/redtape.