At one time Knox County had plans drawn up for a $14 million new courthouse. But as the Knox County Building Committee continues with repairs, it looks like the current 130-year-old one will be around for a while.
The committee has plans to bid out repair work on courthouse steps.
Pending full board approval, this comes on the heels of hiring Fire Escape Services of Chicago to repair the building’s fire escape.
The committee’s architectural consultant Cody Basham originally estimated step repairs would cost $75,000 to $100,000.
Basham got an estimate from Otto Baum Company Inc. of Morton to fix the steps for $71,245. He’s advising though that it would be cheaper to hire one contractor to tackle a bundle of projects.
Architectural designs from Klinger and Associates for about $22,000 to pave a new road to the Knox County Nursing Home were also approved last night.
Committee Co-Chair Greg “Chops” Bacon says the county now has some momentum behind courthouse fixes.
“We’ve got a lot going on,” Bacon says. “We’ve got the iron hot, let’s roll with some of it. We’ve been looking at some of these things for years, but just never had the money. Now we’ve got a few bucks. Let’s start putting the ball in play.”
And maybe not a minute too soon.
When asked by member John Hunigan how long the steps would be safe if nothing was done Basham replied, “they’re not safe now” and that “they’ll only get worse.”
Bacon estimates the windows haven’t been caulked since they were installed 20 years ago.
