Cape Girardeau County to patch Common Pleas Courthouse steps

The Cape Girardeau County Commission decided Thursday to patch crumbling steps at the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau.

Commissioners made the decision less than a week after the publication of a Southeast Missourian story about the condition of the steps.

Area runners, who regularly use the steps as part of their workouts, said the steps pose a safety risk not just for runners but for anyone navigating the steps.

First District Associate Commissioner Paul Koeper said the steps that are falling apart will be patched within the next week or two.

About 20 of the 54 steps on the terraced hillside are visibly cracked or crumbling.

But Koeper cautioned concrete patching is only a temporary solution.

“It is just like taking icing and putting it on a cake,” he said, adding it doesn’t address the underlying foundation.

“They are a hundred years old and beyond repair,” he said of the steps.

Removing the steps or replacing them entirely is the next step, Koeper said.

County officials said they don’t want to spend $100,000 or more to replace the steps when they are looking to move out of the courthouse as soon as a new county administration building is constructed in Jackson within the next five years.

“It is just hard to patch concrete. It is a tough issue because we are in the process of trying to build a courthouse,” Koeper said.

He said he doesn’t know how long the repairs will last.

Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy remained silent on the topic after the quick decision in the commission chambers in Jackson, leaving Koeper to explain the issue.

Charles Herbst, 2nd District Associate Commissioner, had argued last week the steps are not unsafe if people use the handrail and pay attention to where they walk.

Herbst was not at Thursday’s meeting.

The city of Cape Girardeau owns the four-acre site and the courthouse annex. The city and county each have half ownership of the historic, brick courthouse, part of which dates back to 1854.

Under a lease agreement that is scheduled to expire in 2029, the county maintains the buildings and grounds. In exchange, the city allows the county use of the buildings and grounds at no charge.

Herbst had argued replacing the steps would involve “more than maintenance.”

Cape Girardeau city officials said last week the city had no plans to address the steps.

City manager Scott Meyer said the county “has the responsibility to keep them safe.”

Cape Girardeau runner Shannon Aldridge welcomed the news the steps would be repaired.

“I am very excited about it,” said Aldridge, who was among a number of area runners who voiced concern about the steps.

He had pointed out the steps were “in bad shape,” particularly those near Spanish Street.

Aldridge said Thursday the steps were not just a safety issue for runners, but for the general public.

“That was my big concern,” he said.

The county is facing a lawsuit after a woman slipped and was injured seriously while negotiating a different set of steps leading into the basement from inside the Common Pleas Courthouse.

Aldridge said he has heard from a number of people who agreed with the comments he and other runners made last week.

“The runners really spoke up,” he added.

He and other runners had pushed for repairs to the steps that were in poor shape.

Aldridge had argued such repairs would cost far less than replacing steps.

He compared the situation to repairing a pothole.

“You don’t replace the whole road; you fill the pothole,” he said.

Aldridge said he and other runners have watched the steps crumble for some time.

“We knew it was a problem, but we didn’t think anybody would ever fix it,” he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

44 N. Lorimier St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.