Franklin County mayor outlines where courthouse services are located, urges residents to attend commission meetings

Mayor Chris Guest offered a brief orientation to services housed in the Franklin County courthouse in Winchester, naming offices and staff residents can contact and urging people to attend county commission meetings.

Guest said visitors entering from the side known locally as the Olden Theater side will find the county clerk’s office on the left, “where you do your vehicle registration, you do your tax,” and the trustee’s office across the hall, which he said becomes very busy during tax season. He identified Christie Veil in connection with the trustee’s office and named Kathy Siler as the current property assessor.

The mayor also described security at a desk in front of the building on the first floor, and said planning and zoning — which handles building permits — sits at the opposite end of the first-floor hallway; he named Eric Bradford as planning and zoning director. Guest noted the nonprofit Almost Home operates in the courthouse basement and is closed in July, and that the United Way now has an office in the former mayor’s office/mail reception area.

“Upstairs, which is where we are now, is the Old Circuit Courtroom, where we have the county commission meetings,” Guest said, and he encouraged residents to attend those meetings every third Monday to follow county business and weigh in with their commissioners. He described the third floor as the county records area and mentioned periodic maintenance needs such as work on the clock tower.

Guest closed the update by inviting residents to visit the historic courthouse, directing questions to the mayor’s office at 967-2905, and wishing listeners a safe weekend. The mayor said the mayor’s office will resume regular hours Monday.