A short wish list: More disabled access, space at Common Pleas Courthouse

Patti Wibbenmeyer said the Common Pleas Courthouse needs more of three things: accessibility for the disabled, visitor space and storage space.

Wibbenmeyer, who has worked in the circuit clerk's office in the Common Pleas Courthouse since 1991, was startled after reading in a June 20 Southeast Missourian article that Cape Girardeau County Commission candidates were against the idea of the courthouse moving into the 41-year-old federal building on Broadway.

"At the time they said this they'd never been inside of the building," Wibbenmeyer said.

"They dangled the federal building right in front of us," circuit clerk employee Cheryl Stillwell about the commissioners. "But we can't get over there."

The Broadway building is much newer than the Commons Pleas Courthouse, which was built in 1854, and is already set up to comply with disability access standards.

Don McQuay, public works director of Cape Girardeau County, knows the Common Pleas Courthouse has problems. "It's an old building that needs constant work," he said. "But just because you have a new building doesn't mean you won't have new problems."

Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Lewis said it would be hard to make the courthouse accessible to the disabled because that would require an elevator.

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.com Many of the boxes that once sat in these shelves in the Common Pleas Courthouse have been moved to storage in Jackson. Water seeping into this room has made the environment of the courthouse's basement a poor one in which to keep court documents.

Ken Eftink, director of development services for the city of Cape Girardeau, which leases the building to the county, said installing an elevator is a "possibility" that would be weighed against preserving its "historical quality."

Presiding Cape County Commissioner Gerald Jones and 2nd District Commissioner Jay Purcell both said the idea was quickly shot down in a commission meeting because it would be expensive and the building's historical nature would make it difficult to work on.

"There's too much you'd have to tear apart and ruin," Jones said. "This is an old courthouse that many people would like to put on the historical register."

"We did think about an exterior elevator," Purcell said. "But that would be too expensive."

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.com Patti Wibbenmeyer said she saw a snake hanging from top to bottom along the right-side shelf in the Common Pleas Courthouse basement. Many case boxes in an adjacent basement room were moved to storage in Jackson after that incident.

Most of the time, the court is able to make accommodations for people who can't walk up the stairs. When they can't, the case is moved either downstairs at the courthouse or to Jackson, which are both accessible to the disabled, said Cape Girardeau County Circuit Clerk Charlie Hutson. But there have been instances when court was held upstairs and a disabled person attended.

"I've been there before when a plaintiff in a jury trial was carried up and down the stairs, while laying in his hospital bed, for the whole three-day trial," Hutson said.

Wibbenmeyer is also disgruntled by the lack of ramp access to the courthouse from the parking lot. Two disabled parking spaces are in the courthouse parking lot, and stairs lead from the parking lot to the courthouse. Another space is along Lorimier Street, which is on the same level as the courthouse.

Inside the courthouse, some of the bathrooms can pose challenges to the disabled. On the first-level women's bathroom, the space between the wall and the stall doors is too small for a person in a wheelchair to get through, Wibbenmeyer said. In the same bathroom, one of the stall doors was removed in order to maneuver a wheelchair through it, she said. In the bathrooms upstairs, for both women and men, a step in front of the bathrooms presents a challenge for people in wheelchairs, Lewis said. There are no rails along the toilets in any of the four of the bathrooms in the courthouse, Wibbenmeyer said.

Lewis also said the step up to the jury box would be hard for a disabled person to maneuver.

Cape Girardeau County 1st District Commissioner Larry Bock said commissioners aren't talking about increasing the size of the bathrooms or installing railings. He said there has been talk about installing a ramp leading from the parking lot to the courthouse.

Wibbenmeyer also thinks the courthouse lacks adequate space to help courthouse visitors. When people come to file complaints at the courthouse, they come to the circuit clerk's office. Wibbenmeyer said there is enough personnel to help more than one person at once, but people have to come up to the window one at a time.

When people come in to file a domestic abuse complaint or suit and both parties have to stand in the same room, a heated situation can arise, she said.

"Sometimes, the ladies come outside to help people" with their paperwork, Wibbenmeyer said. "And when they do, they put themselves at risk because the wall that was protecting them isn't there anymore."

Courthouse files are stored in Jackson and in the Common Pleas Courthouse basement. But the courthouse has housed fewer files recently, because its basement can be dangerous to access, its dank environment could damage the files and about six months ago Wibbenmeyer spotted an eight-foot snake. She said she saw it draped along the length of one of the file-case cabinets but doesn't know what kind of snake it was because it was gone before a specialist could look at it.

Wibbenmeyer said she would like more files kept on the same level as her office, but her office is too small for that.

Some improvements are being made. The state and the county are spending $170,000 on a heating and air-conditioning system.

The air-conditioning and heating systems sometimes shut down, Wibbenmeyer said.

adohogne@semissourian.com

335-6611

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