FRANKFORT, Ind. – A new Clinton County Government Annex Building was discussed during a special meeting of the Clinton County Commissioners and Clinton County Council Friday morning.
The meeting was held to discuss what to do with the county owned property at 2 E. Washington St., the former Regions building, as well as the renovation of the current Courthouse.
The commissioners and council are seeking to move all non-court related business to the Annex while keeping the Courthouse strictly for court business.
Members of the respective government bodies heard from representatives from Envoy, the company selected to oversee the work and Baker Tilly, the firm that handles the county’s financial planning.
The takeaway. Building a new Annex building is more economical over the long run and the Courthouse needs exterior renovation in addition to interior upgrades.
The price tag will depend on whether a two-story or three-story structure is built and the type of financing used to pay for the work at the Annex and Courthouse.
The Courthouse cost is projected at $9.8 million and members voiced positive comments for the third-story option but need more time to contemplate that decision with an estimated cost around $16.7 million. Depending on the financing option used, the combined two projects will cost between $27 million and $28 million. With a 20-year bond payback, the combined project, with interest, could run between $41 million and $46 million according to documents prepared by Baker Tilly and provided by Council President Alan Dunn.
The County plans to use $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and bond the remaining $22 million to $23 million.
“My personal feeling is that we wanna move forward with new construction on the Annex building on the site of the current Regions building and that we’ll want to do that as a three-story building that gives the county some room to grow over the next 30 years,” said Dunn after the meeting. “And that’s really what we’re looking at is, what our administrative building needs are gonna be over the next generation.”
Council member Jeff Chynoweth voiced a concern during the meeting with how fast a decision was wanting to be made on this combined project.
“Can we chew on this for a week or something,” commented Chynoweth when asked by Dunn of his thoughts. Dunn continued with asking for Chynoweth’s initial thoughts.
“I don’t do anything in 45-minutes and neither does anyone in this room. I know you guys have been privy to a lot of things. I know I heard about this problem in Rural King. So that kind of sets me off a little bit.”
Commissioners President Jordan Brewer also favors building a new Annex.
“I think the commissioners, you could tell by the input today, even though we didn’t take a vote, that there’s a leaning towards going the new, because honestly, it just makes the most economic sense,” stated Brewer after the meeting. “It makes the most operational sense, and it’s what will provide a facility that will have a 30 year life for this community.”
Brewer continued, “And I have been privy to a lot more information than even with Shared today, because I have weekly meetings on this project and so we have a lot more candid conversations. But you know, with the water infiltration, the mold remediation, the potential asbestos, as well as the integrity of the building, we have a lot of unknowns in doing a remodel versus new.”
Brewer stressed the operational efficiencies a new building will bring.
“Although [Envoy] didn’t put a dollar amount on it today in our internal conversations there’s gonna be a huge operational efficiency financial efficiency in the new building compared to remodeling this current one. We have a ton of wasted space in it. As I mentioned, the roof has issues of being even able to hold the heating and cooling system, and there could be some challenges with that.”
The new Annex project design has been shown to the Frankfort Historical Preservation Committee for exterior design according to Brewer.
“So we we went a little proactive and went to the Historical Preservation Committee just to kind of get a better understanding – because one of the concerns we had in our conversation was – are we even gonna be able to do a new build? There was no reason to have all these meetings and put all this effort and time into it if, if for some reason that we couldn’t even tear that down just based on, you know, things within the community.”
Both government bodies are scheduling to vote on the matter on Tuesday, December 13. The Council will vote first at its scheduled 9 a.m. meeting followed by a special meeting of the Commissioners at 10:30 a.m.. Both meetings will be held at the Courthouse.
