The Athens County Courthouse will undergo exterior refurbishment tentatively scheduled for completion next winter. The Athens County Commissioners approved the Historical Design Group, Inc., to oversee the repairs at Tuesday's commissioners meeting.
Historical Design Vice President William Kunkle presented the plan to the commissioners. They agreed to pay $24,900 to Historical Design as consultants to the project. Their services include overseeing construction, budget and the bidding phase.
To refurbish the exterior of the courthouse, it would cost about $775,000. To repair the Lady of Justice statue and surrounding roof, it would cost about $50,000. To fix the entire roof, it would cost about $330,000, said Kunkle.
Athens County Commissioner Bill Theisen said the project should begin this May when the opening bids are offered.
There hasn't been anything done to repair the courthouse since 1992 when (construction workers) completely renovated the inside
said Jim Croston, a courthouse maintenance worker.
Croston, who has been working at the courthouse for almost 12 years, has noticed that the outside of the courthouse is in need of repair.
They're going to try to put in new widows and fix the front steps he said. They're probably going to need to look at the sandstone around the bottom of it and re-do Lady Liberty.
Kunkle said Historical Design does not do any new architectural work. The company specializes in repairing and refurbishing old, historic buildings throughout Ohio and mostly works on courthouses and government buildings. Historical Design was in charge of the courthouse project back in 1999.
It's a project that has needed to be done for probably the past eight years said Theisen. (The commissioners) explored this five years ago and we didn't have the money to fund it.
In the past five years, Theisen said the conditions of the courthouse have worsened.
The pigeons are moving back in
and we spent $30
000 eight or nine years ago to get rid of them
he said.
Theisen said funding was the issue then and still is today.
We had hoped to pay for it in cash
but that's not going to happen
so we're going to have spread the payments out over a longer period of time
he said.
The current building is the third courthouse to occupy the corner of Court Street and Washington Street The first courthouse was built in 1807, and torn down in 1815. The second courthouse was completed in 1816, but was deemed a fire hazard in 1877. It was re-erected in 1880 for $46,898, according to the Ohio Historic Inventory Manual.
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