ADRIAN — Lenawee County officials are looking at renovating the old courthouse as planning continues to create a new sheriff’s building.
The county commission’s physical resources committee on Monday voted 3-0 to spend $19,400 to have the architecture firm designing the new sheriff’s building look at renovating the courthouse.
County administrator Martin Marshall said the goal would be not only to make improvements to modernize the building but to also restore historical elements that were removed or hidden by past renovations, if building codes allow those restorations.
“The building is a classic representation of its period but has suffered through some brutal modifications over the years; it would be wonderful to see it restored to its former magnificence!” wrote Ray Micham, architect and partner in The Collaborative, in the firm’s proposal. The Collaborative is the Toledo firm the county is working with on the projects.
Retired Lenawee County Prosecutor Irv Shaw Jr. said the renovations that detracted from the building’s original design began at the time he was starting his legal career in the 1960s. He said the work was done because of edicts from the state about fire safety and changes in county government, such as the change from a board of supervisors to a board of commissioners and wanting more space for probate court. Air conditioning also was installed during that period.
For fire safety, the central atrium of the courthouse was enclosed to prevent fire from shooting up the middle of the building, with fire doors installed on two sides, near the stairways going to the second floor.
Shaw said space at the rear of the second-floor courtroom, which is now the county commissioners’ chambers, was walled off and turned into the probate courtroom. That room is now the commissioners’ committee meeting room.
The original, vaulted ceiling in the main courtroom also was covered with the current ceiling.
The Collaborative’s proposal calls for a six- to nine-week study before presenting its findings to the county.
An expected cost for the renovations is not included in the proposal. The Collaborative said it will work with construction company Krieghoff-Lenawee of Adrian on developing a cost projections.
Marshall said doing this work now would allow the courthouse work to be rolled into the same bond sale as that for paying for the sheriff’s building remodeling.
The resulting constructions and end result, Marshall said, would affect departments in three buildings. The courthouse annex building across East Front Street from the old courthouse would be used during the work for temporary office space first for the sheriff’s office then for offices in the courthouse.
When the work is done, Marshall said, the sheriff’s office would be in its remodeled building, the equalization department and the prosecutor’s office would move into the annex building, the Friend of the Court offices would be moved from the judicial building’s basement to its second floor, and the judicial building’s basement would be converted to document storage space.
The annex building currently houses the public defender’s office.
The committee’s vote authorizes the study to commence. Marshall said the funds come from an account designated for the committee’s use.
Marshall also updated the committee on the sheriff’s building project. He said The Collaborative has been told the county wants the sheriff’s office staff out of the building by June with a full plan of action ready by April.
The county will meet with its bond counsel on Jan. 18 to go over the sheriff’s building project and its existing bonds to develop a “sensible” plan for selling new bonds, Marshall said.