MANSFIELD — An effort to open up usable space inside the Richland County courthouse has run into a snag due to unforeseen, unlevel floors in the old county jail.
County maintenance superintendent Chuck Minnich told county commissioners on Thursday that the problem was found when the former jail cells were pulled from the concrete floor on L2.
“In the process of removing the cells, we found the floor-leveling process (that had been planned) isn’t going to be adequate,” Minnich said. “We are dealing with 1968 building technology. They didn’t laser (level) the floor.”
He said the floor looked level and “perfectly normal” when the cells were still in place. After they were removed, he said the floor is a “half inch off from the next cell over.”
Minnich said the original plan of just filling in the holes was not going to be enough.
At his request, commissioners approved removing $29,500 from the existing $292,200 demolition contract with Dore and Associates of Bay City, Mich.
Minnich said the county will now seek architectural and design assistance to determine how best to remedy the situation.
“The good news is (this contract) will be $29,500 less,” Commissioner Tony Vero said.
Minnich replied, “The bad news is it could be a lot more,” adding he didn’t have any estimates on what the solution could cost.
County Administrator Andrew Keller said the plan would be to retain an architect or engineer to design what needs to be done.
“We can describe the phases and scope of the project at that point,” Keller said.
Commissioners set aside $577,000 in the 2022 capital budget for the total project of removing the cells, installing a new HVAC system and replacing windows.
The ultimate plan is to move the county clerk of courts office to L2 when about 7,500 square feet of usable space is created.
That move would allow for the construction of a fourth Richland County Common Pleas general division courtroom, a request made by Judges Brent Robinson and Phil Maumoff in May 2021.
The judges cited a “perfect storm” of COVID-19 and new state rules as the need for the new courtroom that would be used by the two judges and their three magistrates.
The two judges told commissioners in September it’s been difficult to keep court functions going during the pandemic, meeting the needs of social distancing and safety for everyone involved in the legal process.
Robinson said the court has implemented the U.S. military motto of “adapt, improvise and overcome” to maintain a busy schedule of criminal and civil hearings and trials during the pandemic, which began in March 2020.
“It’s been difficult and the added space would greatly help us,” Naumoff said. “We are out of room, folks.”
Also on Thursday, commissioners:
— approved a request from county Engineer Adam Gove to reduce the county’s certified road mileage by .013 miles due to the annexation of a property into the Village of Crestline. The new mileage for county roads is now 347.602, according to Gove.
— approved a reimbursement of $2,475.07 into Gove’s department for assistance during a recent waterline break at the courthouse. The funds will cover labor, materials and equipment rental.
“The engineer’s staff was very helpful … they worked long and hard in very cold weather,” Vero said.
Minnich told commissioners the reimbursement is “a fraction” of what the county would have had to pay a private company to provide the assistance.
