County facility study heads to commissioners Monday

A study of Cape Girardeau County's facilities is complete and will be presented to commissioners Monday.

The county commission in February hired St. Louis-based Treanor Architects to assess the county's buildings and its needs for space and function.

For several years, the county commission discussed consolidating two aging courthouses -- one in Cape Girardeau and one in Jackson -- to a single location. Talks also have covered trying to include other county government offices in future buildings.

The 160-year-old Common Pleas Courthouse, as with other facilities used by Cape Girardeau County, is being assessed for future use. (Fred Lynch)

The architectural firm is expected to provide its analysis at 10 a.m. Monday in the commission's meeting chambers at the county administration building in Jackson.

Associate Commissioner Charlie Herbst said the commission did not ask for a conceptual design of a new building from the firm but instead would like an approximation of the efficiency of space used by the county and the size of facility needed by the county in the future.

"What my expectations are is that they will present us with three footprint options the county could consider," Herbst said.

After the study's presentation, the county in the coming months likely will choose one of the options and seek a contract for design services, Herbst said. The commission also plans to ask for public input on the options.

Consolidation of courthouses is permissible by state law. In 2011, Gov. Jay Nixon signed House Bill 340, which revised language that required the county to hold court and maintain circuit clerk and probate division offices in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

Several officeholders, including the assessor, circuit clerk, collector and county clerk, use office space in both Cape Girardeau and Jackson. Judges, lawyers and courts are housed at both courthouses.

Most other officeholders are in only the county administration building in Jackson, including the commission, auditor, coroner, recorder of deeds and treasurer. The administration building also holds the election center and emergency management, highway, information technology, mapping and appraisal and public works departments.

Offices for the sheriff, public administrator and archive center all are in separate spaces near the county administration building.

Before ordering the study, commissioners explored alternatives to building new -- including trying to buy the former federal building at 339 Broadway in Cape Girardeau. That building remains on the market after the General Services Administration instead sold it to a private entity last year through an online auction.

Also in 2011, commissioners ordered structural analyses of the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau and the county courthouse in Jackson. It listed water infiltration and seismic instability as concerns. The Common Pleas Courthouse is nearly 160 years old; the Jackson courthouse is 105 years old.

One part of planning for a possible new courtroom or office space has yet to be discussed in detail by commissioners is how it would be funded. But those talks also are expected.

"That's going to be the next step," Herbst said. "I feel pretty confident that we are not going through this not to select an option and get to that."

Money from the study, which will cost about $60,000, comes from about $2 million the county received in 2011 for refinancing bonds used to build the county jail in 2002. That money also is being used for various capital improvements, such as renovations to existing county offices. The money originally was sought so the county could buy and renovate the federal building.

A possible location for a new building also hasn't been determined, although the county has been buying properties on the north side of the Jackson square, across from the county courthouse and administration building, when the opportunity arises. In the past three years the county bought a duplex and lot at 200 N. Missouri St., which it is renting out, a house at 205 N. Hope St. which was torn down to make room for a parking lot, and a house at 120 E. Washington St., which was converted into the public administrator's office. Those property purchases also were made with money from the jail bond refinancing.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

1 Barton Square, Jackson, MO

44 N. Lorimier St., Cape Girardeau, MO

339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO