MANSFIELD — It began as a request from Richland County Common Pleas Court judges Phil Naumoff and Brent Robinson for a fourth courtroom in 2021.
Four years later, that construction trigger has resulted in a $5.3 million major renovation of many areas of the nearly 50-year-old Richland County Courthouse — 90 percent of which was funded through the county’s share of American Rescue Plan Act dollars.
Richland County commissioners on Thursday said they plan a public event in January to show off the new renovations, including new Land Bank offices on the lowest level and new public bathrooms throughout the five-story building.
The date will be announced once fire inspections are complete. Board members pointed out no money was borrowed for any of the work, an effort that included capital dollars from the county general fund.
It will include a video produced by DRM Productions of Mansfield showing on a loop that documents the work as it was done, according to Commissioner Tony Vero.
“We thought it would be a very nice idea when we open up everything to the public, to show a video loop, as opposed to just (photos) showing the construction. There will be a narration and it will show the progress that has taken place,” Vero said.
The judges’ request set off a flurry of activity in which one project has led to another. Creating a fourth courtroom meant moving the Clerk of Courts into new offices, which required the removal of the old jail cells on “L2,” a project that began in February 2022.
The new Clerk of Courts offices opened in November 2024, a renovation that included meeting space for the county prosecutor’s county grand jury sessions.
Once that was done, the old clerk of courts space was renovated and the fourth courtroom opened in September.
The last phase began earlier this year. It included renovation of “L1” to create new offices for the Richland County Land Bank, a new employee break room and an employee workout room.
It also renovated the common areas on four of the five floors and nine of the building’s 10 bathrooms. One of the 10 bathrooms was already redone when the second floor, i.e. “L2,” was renovated earlier this year as part of the project to create new offices for the Clerk of Courts office.
“This is a $5.3 million, four-year effort with not a single cent borrowed, which I think the taxpayers will like,” Vero said. “I’m already starting to receive compliments from people that have been in the building for many years and they just can’t believe how nice the building looks.”
Both of the lower levels were once occupied by the Richland County Sheriff’s Office. A new county jail opened in 2008 next to the courthouse and the RCSO moved to the Peoples’ Building on Park Avenue East around the same time.
“We’re utilizing space that was just wasted before … just junk,” Commissioner Cliff Mears said. “It was just piles of records and pallets of boxes. To utilize what we have and optimize what we have, I think, the greatest asset that that came out of this.”