The Marion County Board was told Tuesday night of the deplorable condition of the annex building.
Board member Adam Smith who recently toured the building wasn’t pleased with what he saw.
“The entire building is just a disaster. It’s filthy besides that and there is mold and bugs. It is really unbelievable.”
Building Committee Chair Dr. Creighton Engel believes the mold problem has been mitigated but agreed the building is in need of work and cleanup.
After the report, Circuit Clerk Tiffany Schicker pushed for the board to look at the potential purchase of the current Modern Woodman building at 219 East Schwartz across the street from the county jail. It is currently for sale for $199,000. Schicker feels it offers lots of options and would be a better location for her evidence locker than the current Annex Building.
“I really feel that it could be used by every department, the board included. You can have a board room, you could have board secretary office, board records room, there could be conference and training rooms that the Sheriff’s Department, States Attorney and myself could use and other offices.”
Schicker says it could also offer climate-controlled storage of valuable records and documents, provide 26 additional parking places, as well as serving as temporary office space or courtrooms during the remodeling of the courthouse. She also noted three are already leasing space, which could become a source of revenue for the county. Schicker said she would pay for any remodeling for areas used by the circuit court out of special funds.
The board agreed to look further at the purchase at its next meeting on February 28th. That meeting will be held at the annex building to show the entire board its current condition.
Board Chair Debbie Smith says the building has become a ‘white elephant’.
At the request of WJBD-WSIQ news, County Treasurer Gary Purcell and County Clerk Steve Fox researched the amount of money put into the Annex building to date. After the purchase price of $45,000 another $375,986 has been spent to date. The largest amounts have been a $103,919 roof replacement, $62,982 for masonry work, $24,229 for heating and air, and $68,556 for shelving and cages. Additional construction work of $109,362 has also been expended. An Environmental inspection was completed at a cost of $2,370 and $1,495 in electrical work has been completed.
