« Ind. Courts - Embattled Elkhart Judge Resigns | Main | Ind. Law - Proposed bill would govern "causing pregnancy by means other than sexual intercourse" »

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Ind. Courts - More on Randolph County Courthouse

"Randolph County again looking to buy old Wal-Mart" is the headline to this story by Joy Leiker in the Muncie StarPress. Some quotes:

WINCHESTER - Two weeks after the Randolph County Board of Commissioners crossed the old Wal-Mart store off its list of courthouse possibilities, the former retail space is back on the bargaining table.

Monday the commissioners voted to bid on the 54,962-square-foot building on Winchester's east side.

If it sounds like a broken record, that's because the commissioners made that same decision a month ago. Then they redirected their attention two weeks later because they thought the Wal-Mart store had been sold to someone else.

Turns out, they were wrong. The building, believed to be the only space in Winchester large enough to hold every courthouse office, employee and paper required, is still listed for sale - or lease - on the company's Web site.

Now, the county isn't sure if the building is still for sale or not. Councilman Bill Terrell told commissioners and residents Monday that there's only one way to find out - submit a bid. "We'll never know," Terrell said, if the county doesn't try to purchase the property. "What are we waiting on?"

Meanwhile, as also reported in the story two entries down,"officials learned more about the condition of the existing courthouse."
Last week a structural engineer examined parts of the building during a tour led by Jack Daniels and Skip Hanchar, representatives of the architectural and construction companies hired by the county. For that tour, the men removed sheets of plywood visible in the ceiling of courthouse offices to study the bricks and mortar above. The plywood was installed a few years ago to prevent bricks and chunks of mortar from falling to the floor.

Daniels said there was evidence of water in several spots - which wasn't a surprise - but the water has left gaps in the mortar and brick, which are wet to the touch. Generally, there's more moisture in the bricks closest to the courthouse's exterior, he said.

"We're not here to say it can't be done," Hanchar said, a phrase he's repeated countless times during the county's courthouse discussions. "If you don't do this thing right, you're not going to buy any time."

Daniels and Hanchar said doing it right will require tuckpointing - replacing the mortar between every brick. "Everything we've seen is fixable," Daniels said, though he can't qualify how bad the damage is or how much repairs would cost.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 4, 2005 06:24 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts