The project is expected to cost about $3 million, including a $1.4 million records system for the county and common pleas courts.
With prosecutor and court services staffs moved into the new $6.6 million building at 520 Justice Drive, County Architect Mike Shadoan and his staff can begin redesigning more than 20,000 square feet and drawing up plans for an addition to 500 Justice Drive.
“We will be gutting the areas completely,” said Shadoan, also the building services manager.
When the work is complete, the county court clerks and judges’ staffs are to move from their current location in a building across the road at 550 Justice Drive, shared with the sheriff’s office and county jail.
Eventually the county also plans to renovate and enlarge 550 Justice Drive for the sheriff’s office and jail and redo the juvenile justice center at 570 Justice Drive.
Staffs that are spread among different buildings off the Ohio 48 Bypass in Lebanon are to be located in one area within the 12-building campus.
While expensive, the changes, along with improvements embracing new technologies and building design, are expected to improve the efficiency of the county operation and ready the operations for the future.
“We will see the cost savings add up,” County Judge Robert Fischer said last week during a presentation by him, Clerk of Courts James Spaeth and County Judge Gary Loxley to the county commissioners. “We believe the public will see a huge benefit.”
Higher court fees will offset some of the costs. The county also expects to save public money by paying for all the improvements with cash on hand and completing most of the coming renovations in-house.
A new court is to be built off the existing domestic relations wing for the county judges.
Clerks serving the misdemeanor, small claims, domestic relations and general division common pleas courts will all be in one building and serve all the courts.
A new court room is also to be built for another common pleas judge.
During the presentation, Spaeth told the commissioners he had already cut the county court staff by about 25 percent. “Hopefully we can make it a much more efficient system,” he said.
The county court staffs are to move in 2016, but Spaeth — who has seen plans for court renovations come and go over the past decade — urged caution with the ambitious schedule.
“I’m being conservative,” Spaeth said.
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