MANSFIELD — Public elevators at the Richland County Courthouse run up and down.
When they work, that is, an issue that has been an issue since December 2022.
But the road to restoring a pair of half-century-old elevators has been as winding as the five-level elevator shafts are tall.
It appears relief is in sight for employees and visitors to the 50 Park Ave. East structure, built in 1968, according to Commissioner Darrell Banks.
Banks, who works as the board’s liaison with county maintenance director Josh Hicks, said Tuesday the elevator on the west side of the building is scheduled for state inspection on May 9 and could up up running again by the middle of May.
“We’re hoping for a (state) inspection next Thursday or Friday. Everything seems to be going along. They’re fine-tuning, getting it to stop at the right places and so forth. I think they’ll have the inspection and then we’re hoping to have the parts (arrive) to fix the other one,” Banks said.
Renovations to the elevator on the east side will begin as soon as the west elevator is ready for public use. It’s expected to be ready in 12 weeks once that work begins.
But even one working elevator will be a vast improvement over the current zero working elevators, which has largely been the case since June 2023.
Complete renovations have been slowed mightily by supply-chain issues.
Simply, contractors cannot install parts they cannot get.
The courthouse has five levels. For those entering off of Park Avenue, the “first floor” has the commissioners’ office, as well as the auditor, the tax map, treasurer and recorder’s office.
The “second” floor is home to the Clerk of Courts, county IT, court IT, mediation and Probate Court.
The “third” floor hosts Common Pleas Court general division, Domestic Relations Court, Drug Court and the probation department.
“L2” once housed the county jail and is being renovated for the new Clerk of Courts office. “L1” is home to the county Land Bank and is also used by other county officials.
The stairwells have gotten near constant use in a building that is simply not ADA-compliant without the elevators.
“It’s been a terrible situation,” Banks said. “I will say that (county employees) throughout the building have done a remarkable job of stepping up.
“Probate Court (staff) come down, Domestic Relations Court (staff) come down, Clerk of Courts (staff) come down,” Banks said.
In one instance, Banks said, there were grandparents who wanted to witness a wedding being officiated by Probate Court Judge Kelly Badnell.
“Judge Badnell came down and we had the wedding here in our (commissioners’) boardroom,” Banks said.
“So our people have stepped over backward. The (building) security guards have been good about telling people. Some people didn’t get the word and I am sure we didn’t serve some people. But if we knew about it, our people took care of it,” Banks said.
The project began when the elevator controls failed in December 2022 and the Davis & Newcomer Elevator Company in Arcadia, Ohio, attempted to make repairs.
The company in January 2023 determined a large-scale renovation project was needed. The east elevator was returned to operation, but the west was not.
In February 2023, the county began discussions with Thyssen Krupp Elevator.
“They have a state contract to design, build and service, which made it a lot easier for us than to go out and hire an engineer,” Banks said. “We don’t have to put it out to bid, and they can do the whole thing.”
Commissioners finalized a contract with TKE in May 2023. The company estimated the job would take nine months, with most of the delay because of supply chain issues.
By June, neither elevator was working.
Commissioners approved the expedition of parts with a six-week lead time. The scheduled ship date for equipment was Dec. 8, but the date got pushed back to January.
“We thought were were going to get started in January, but it didn’t work out,” Banks said. “There were some things we could do ahead of time.”
As the shipment date was bumped back to the end of February, Standard Plumbing & Heating installed split units for temperature control.
TKE began on-site work in February. The east elevator, which had been working, went down, but TKE was able to reset it. It was shut down again in the middle of March.
