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Committee moves to secure funds and asks mayor to sign contract to keep downtown courthouse project moving
Summary
After public comments and testimony from a criminal court judge, the committee approved a resolution directing the county mayor to sign an appropriation and guaranteed up to $100,000 so architect work on the downtown courthouse can continue without delay.
Public commenters and a criminal court judge told the committee the unfinished downtown courthouse is creating operational and constitutional problems for local courts, and committee members approved a resolution aimed at keeping the project moving.
"We need to work together here, on the same field," a longtime criminal court judge said, describing courtroom logistics that have spread criminal dockets across multiple floors and created safety and privacy concerns. "Can we agree on that? Now I have taken the jury assembly room... We really struggled."
Public commenter Mary Genung urged commissioners to restore funds for the courthouse and for geothermal systems at other county facilities.
During committee discussion Chairman Mister Klein said funds for design and construction already had been appropriated previously but that delays and procurement questions had left the project without a signed contract. He moved that the committee adopt a resolution directing the county mayor to sign the appropriation and guaranteeing up to $100,000 to allow the mayor's office to execute a purchase order and obtain a contract with a selected architect.
The motion passed; committee members said the intent was to avoid losing the architect that had been identified after an eight-month search and to prevent further delay that would increase cost and harm the county's reputation with vendors.
Committee discussion noted that the mayor, as the county's agent, must sign the contract; staff said an existing appropriation remains in the budget, and the requested action was intended to provide the mayor the authority to sign the quote so the purchase order and contract could be completed before year-end. The committee did not change appropriation totals beyond the guarantee of up to $100,000.
No formal amendment to the courthouse design or scope was adopted at the meeting; staff said additional procurement steps remain and the mayor's signature is required to proceed.
