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Sunday, January 21, 2007

Ind. Courts - Randolph County may renovate courthouse after all

Joy Leiker of the Muncie Star-Press reports today, in a story that begins:

WINCHESTER -- Randolph County is 34 months away from a renovated and expanded courthouse.

That is, if officials stick to a preliminary project timeline presented Saturday by Commissioner David Lenkensdofer during a special joint meeting of the county council and board of county commissioners. It was the county's first courthouse discussion since last spring.

All 10 members of those two boards attended the special session, and there were no objections to Lenkensdofer's schedule.

"If we don't set deadlines we'll never get it done," said Dick Wise, a county council member and the lone Democrat on either board.

The ultimate goal, Lenkensdofer said, is to proceed in a reasonable fashion with local taxpayers in mind.

Of course, that was the goal 18 months ago when Lenkensdofer was the odd man out in a 2-1 vote to tear down the courthouse. One tumultuous election year and reversal vote later, and Lenkensdofer, a restoration proponent, is leading the charge to proceed.

And now it appears most of his elected cohorts are willing to go along with him. Saturday there was no outward opposition to either the restoration of the current courthouse, which was built in 1875 and completed in 1877, or to expansions on both the north and south sides.

But no plans are final. In fact, there are no plans.

A sidebar to today's story goes through the entire 18-month history since officials voted to demolish the Randolph County Courthouse.

Check here for a list of MANY earlier ILB entries mentioning the Randolph County Courthouse.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 21, 2007 11:17 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts