Plan process begins in recovering Logan County Courthouse from water damages

 

[June 05, 2019] 

LINCOLN 

At the Logan County Board Building and Grounds Committee meeting Tuesday, June 4, the committee heard updates from Bill Walter of Masonry Restoration Technologies & Services. Walter’s offered a projected action plan and schedule for the Logan County Courthouse renovations and discussed some possible funding sources.

Right now, Walter is working on completely familiarizing himself with the courthouse. Walter said Brenda Clark, one of the board’s administrative assistants, has given Walter the known “blueprints” of the courthouse to look at.

In order to develop a master plan, Walter needs to have knowledge of “every nook and cranny” of the building. He plans to ask the courthouse maintenance staff, Clark and Building and Grounds Committee Chairman Dave Blankenship questions to get more information before putting the master plan together.

Blankenship will be Walter’s point of contact and he will give Blankenship the master plan and schedule, so the board knows what will happen and where, though the schedule will constantly change and be updated since Walter will be quicker on some things than he anticipates and slower on others.

There will be associates and architects working with Walter on analysis of space utilization. Contracting forces will do core samples of the concrete. Determination will be made of what is needed in terms of analysis of mold remediation. As he works on the master plan and schedule, Walter will make sure to tell Blankenship and others who would be coming in and when as everything begins to take shape and come together.

Walter said he plans to begin with mold remediation since it is more obvious.

Blankenship asked when mold remediation would start.

Walter said it should start within two weeks. Work on concrete coring will take a little longer because of the analysis and investigation of the area and what influences that area and what other areas it influences.

In discussing funding for the courthouse project, Blankenship said Representative Darin LaHood’s Constituent Services staff has presented him with four possible grant sources, though with some, they would have to surrender some rights to the state, which may mean giving up some control of how money is spent.

Historical tax credits are another possible source. Walter said he has dealt with an attorney in Ohio who can investigate the tax credits. The county needs to be careful about the dealings since there are as many charlatans in the business as there are honest people, but Walter trusts the attorney and feels he is destined to take care of the county. Walter wants to get hold of all the information available and share it with Blankenship. He said the historical tax credits could provide a respectful amount of money.

Grants are also available from the preservation industry and Walter has talked to a woman who frequently works with preservation people at the Department of the Interior, which manages the National Park Service that manages the preservation industry. This woman can help ferret out possibilities and it could also bring in a tremendous amount of money.

Blankenship said he talked to Governor JB Pritzker about funding and is working with one of his special assistants.

Board Chairman Emily Davenport looked into the Capitol Bill and she said Logan County is not directly mentioned in it, though there are special funds within it that the governor and top elected officials can dip into. Representative Tim Butler got $2 million for his district. She is not sure why Macoupin County got $1 M while other counties are not mentioned specifically.

Blankenship plans to draft a letter to the Governor’s Assistant and reach out to Representative Butler and hopes he and Walter can meet with Butler about the project.

Updates on the courthouse project will be shared as work progresses.

[Angela Reiners]