DEFIANCE NIXES COURTHOUSE RENOVATIONS

Defi­ance County’s pro­posed cour­t­house ren­o­va­tion project was voted down dur­ing a spe­cial meet­ing held Wednes­day..

It seems that the major prob­lem was oppo­si­tion to a lack of admin­is­tra­tive office space reserved for the probate/juvenile courts on the sec­ond floor and con­cerns about the inter­min­gling of inmates going to and from court with the pub­lic, staff and oth­ers. Now, the county must look at other options.

One alter­na­tive receiv­ing some dis­cus­sion Wednes­day is build­ing a new cour­t­house which would not need to be as large as the facil­ity that was first pro­posed in 2006. Since then, the audi­tor, recorder and trea­surer offices have moved into the ren­o­vated cour­t­house annex build­ing.

Although the project has been stopped, com­mis­sion­ers must still pay the archi­tec­tural firm for its work. That cost is $156,648.