Commissioners-elect look to change courthouse plan

By BILL RICHMOND

City editor

Two newly-elected Randolph County Commissioners Thursday afternoon addressed a meeting of the Randolph County Building Corporation, asking them to reduce the scope of the courthouse renovation project. County Attorney John Tanner insisted that such a decision is beyond the scope of the building corporation's authority.

The building corporation met to to adopt a resolution to approve the bonds for the courthouse. The building corporation also considered an amendment to create a reserve fund that equals the maximum lease rate, in case the EDIT money coming in is not enough to cover the payment. The reserve fund would only involve money from regular EDIT.

"If the reserve is not used, it will applied to make the last payment on the project or to pay it off early," Tanner said.

Commissioner-elect Noel "Bud" Carpenter said he is concerned about how the bond responsibility may affect local citizens.

"The current economic downturn is steep," Carpenter said. "I am worried about possibly bonding our county almost to the limit for many, many years to come. I'd hate to see the county go into debt at this time. My big concern is that we'll put the county in jeopardy. I would ask you to consider holding off."

Commissioner-elect Troy Prescott said while campaigning for office he spoke to a lot of people who expressed concern for amount that will be spent on the courthouse.

"This is not a time to be borrowing money," Prescott said. "I think we should renovate the courthouse, but not incur the additional debt for the annex."

Prescott said he favors renovating the courthouse without borrowing money for an extended period of time.

Building corporation member Betsy Jefferis said the county has wasted thousands and thousands of dollars by postponing the courthouse decision year after year.

"We're getting a great interest rate now," Jefferis said. "I think to postpone this again is very foolish. We have argued this to death.

"If we just renovate the courthouse, state codes say we would have to build onto it for access code compliance. You weren't here when we originally started fighting to save the courthouse. You're too late."

She said fire protection, elevator and public access codes prevent a simple renovation of the courthouse as it exists.

Building corporation member Jack Cox said when economic conditions were much better people were fighting the project for other reasons, delaying it to this point.

County Council member Bill Bower said that with the ongoing reorganization of county government as recommended by the state legislature it does not seem to be a good time to go into debt.

"I'd say it's not a prudent idea to pursue this now," Bower said. "We don't know what's going to happen."

Cox said if we all live in fear of the future, we'd never get anything done.

Prescott said his main concern is that the county would put its economic development capital at risk.

Financial advisor Jason Semler for H.J. Umbaugh and Associates said the current funding proposal would make bond payments from the county's special Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT) fund as approved by the state legislature for this particular use. Semler said the reserve fund would be from regular EDIT funds otherwise earmarked for county economic development.

Tanner said it's unlikely they will ever need the regular EDIT backup.

Local businessman Dick Gause said the agreement should not put the courthouse ahead of economic development.

"The courthouse is NOT economic development," Gause said.

Tanner said the bond backup plan is allowed under the requirements for EDIT expenditures.

Courthouse project manager Lester "Spike" Shepler, Jr. said all bonds need to be backed up or the county will pay a higher interest rate.

"That's all that document is for," Shepler said, "to give some assurance to the bondholder."

Tanner said once the building corporation authorizes the bonding, the final judgment to approve the bonds is still up to the commissioners.

Cox said he would like to read the rather extensive legal agreement over to be sure he understands the details before returning a decision.

Jefferis agreed, "It's lengthy and it's legal - something has to be done and we can't wait another four years. We're just giving permission to see what the bond rate will be."

Building corporation member Karen Glunt said the county courthouse is a disgrace to anybody who comes here from outside the county.

"That needs to be remedied," she said.

Building corporation members agreed to meet Thursday, Nov. 13 at 9:30 a.m. in the board room on the second floor of the courthouse to again consider approving the proposal.