Monroe County Commisioners heard from Stroudsburg officials and residents this week about the offices being moved to the Ramsey building during the courthouse renovation.

Stroudsburg Mayor Tara Probst and vice president of the Stroudsburg Borough Council Erica McCabe said the Monroe County Probation Office and the Domestic Relations office will be moved.

McCabe said, “Nobody’s happy about this. Obviously I live across the street and my issue is my children walk to and from. They are required to walk to the high school in the Hill District and we’re going to have some teenagers walking to and from within that range while probation is going on and that’s a major concern,” she said, and added there is no busing within a mile of the school district.

“It was common knowledge that some of the county offices would be housed at Ramsey until the construction was completed, but neither the borough council nor the mayor’s office were informed of the decision made by the commissioners. For the last year and a half we have been told, ‘Oh, it’s county administration,’ ” Probst said.

“We have been forthright in talking about this every time we do a zoning application,” Commissioner John Christy said.

“That never came across borough council’s desk, the borough council minutes, the mayor’s desk, the mayor’s email, nothing. So whoever says that Tara or borough council knew they were lying,” McCabe said.

Probst said there should never be a probation office where there is a playground for kids in a residential district.

She mentioned the county owns 701 Main St. and asked, “Why don’t you think probation would maybe be better served there, where they already have security and those types of things. Let it be in the downtown district, not a residential district.”

The mayor said the move would bring sexual offenders and addicts to the kids’ playground located on the same property as the probation office. I want to know whose idea it was at the county that thought it was even remotely OK to put probation office at an elementary school smack dab in the middle of a residential district. I want to know when, who, why, we weren’t privy to it because we’re outraged. It was poor planning and it was not transparent.”

Christy said they have always planned domestic relations and probation to be in the Ramsey School.

“We do not have enough room at 701 Main to move domestic relations and probation,” Christy said.

“We went to the school district and I have been in front of council talking about this project. We put our application into the school district stating that it was both domestic relations and probation and the school board approved it and we went for zoning,” he said.

Commissioner Sharon Laverdure said, “Never in a million years would I have thought that zoning would not be communicating with the borough and the borough council. I guess that is going to have to be a learning curve for me and I apologize. They need to work together a little bit better in that respect to make sure that people know.”

Probst said she plans to file an injunction.

Work on the $58 million courthouse expansion began in June, 2021.