Should Effingham County grow as much as the forecasts say it will, county commissioners are hoping to put together a building plan of their own.
Commissioners reviewed a conceptual master building plan and will look at quotes from architects and consultants and also have set priorities for their current building needs. Tops on the list are renovating the old courthouse and the county jail. How much and how long those two projects will be is another matter, though renovating the jail could cost $325,000.
“We need a master building plan,” commission Chairwoman Verna Phillips said. “We have to have a long-term plan and we don’t have anything on buildings right now.”
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated Effingham County’s population to be nearly 49,000, and state planners believe the number of people calling Effingham home could swell to more than 54,000 by 2010 and to nearly 65,000 by 2015.
Currently, many county offices are scattered across Springfield mostly, with the tax assessors, tax commissioner’s office and GIS and zoning at the annex on Highway 119. The county administrative offices are in downtown Springfield next to the new courthouse.
Plans call for bringing most of the county offices together as part of a campus and to allow residents to only make one stop. Part of the plan presented last week included an administration building that would include the departments currently at the annex.
“At some point in time, there will be a need for a county campus, in 10-20 years,” Phillips said.
The old courthouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is need of work and commissioners also have to determine which offices, if any, to move there.
“We need to do the sheriff complex and the old courthouse,” said Commissioner Reggie Loper, “and put everything else on hold.”
The old courthouse itself is in good shape, but an addition to it is not, according to county staff. Some of the cost of redoing the building could be done through grants or alternative funding sources, according to administrative assistant Adam Kobek.
“The old courthouse is better off than the addition that was done in 1979,” said Assistant County Administrator David Crawley.
Even when the old courthouse is renovated, there still wouldn’t be room for half of the county offices and departments in it, Crawley said.
“It’ll take you three to four years to renovate the courthouse,” Commissioner Hubert Sapp said.
County staff advised commissioners that the county has often played catch-up to its growth, instead of getting ahead the curve.
“We need to be proactive instead of reactive, and we’re often reactive,” Crawley said. “Without some idea of where we’re going, there’s not going to be a construction plan. In the past, we’ve piecemealed a lot of stuff. We often wait until there’s a problem, and then we act on the problem. If we don’t identify these needs, some of these things will never happen.”
The grand jury recommended renovating the sheriff’s complex after its annual review last year. Commissioners may ask the grand jury to take a look at all the county’s buildings. County staff also may ask architects to review county buildings and a building plan after coming up with a defined scope of services.
Sapp also warned commissioners about previous studies for future plans.
“We keep doing these studies and throw them to the side and forget about them,” he said.
The county extension service office is scheduled to get a new building and commissioners have looked at plans for the E-911 center. The 911 building will be paid for out of the special local option sales tax.
