Courthouse roof repairs could top $1 million
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Jan. 25—A historical site in St. Joseph may see some new renovations.
Scott Nelson, Buchanan County presiding commissioner, said officials are looking at repairs to the roof of the Buchanan County Courthouse this year.
"There is a project ... this year that the roof will be replaced on the courthouse due to leakage in the dome and the windows and things like that. So it is in the architectural stage," Nelson said.
He said it's time to address leaks and other problems. Commissioners are estimating the project to cost about $1.3 million. Because of the significance of the courthouse, any changes that get made must be approved by the historical society.
"We got to get OK'd through the historical society," Nelson said. "They worked on the dome windows within the last 10 years. They're going to check the glazing around those windows. There's some leaks on the inside if you look up, not many, but a few. So they'll try to touch that up and repaint and things like that. So they're not going to take the dome off and, you know, toss it away and put up a new dome. But they'll look it over to make sure any preventive maintenance needs to be done on that."
The commissioners hope to have official plans within a few weeks.
Another potential courthouse project involves the Buchanan County Assessor's office, which is hoping to make its space a little more open for those who visit.
Dean Wilson, the county assessor, said he thinks the change would be beneficial.
"We noticed the lines that run outside the window and everybody getting crowded inside and you can't hear when you're trying to talk," Wilson said. "So we were kind of wanting to open it up so it wasn't quite so congested. But it'll look similar to what the collector's office has. The beneficial part would be that I believe that it would kind of make this access much easier and a much quicker process for people when they come in to turn in their assessment list, things like that."
Neither project has been started, but architects are making assessments.
