Clarion County commissioners are concerned about the condition of the county courthouse.
“We need to tackle the heating system at the courthouse,” commissioner Ted Tharan said during the panel’s meeting Tuesday. He added that four pipes burst this winter and the entire heating and cooling system in the courthouse will need to be replaced.
Tharan said the courthouse has one steam boiler in the basement that was installed in the 1970s.
Tharan said the pipes in the building are 80 years old.
He also said the county is looking at installing multiple heating elements to prevent a total loss of heat in the building.
“We also need to look at central cooling because we have 35 air conditioners hanging out of brand new windows,” said Tharan. “That will ruin those windows in time. We want to look at all of our options.”
The HVAC system is not the only concern at the courthouse.
“The judge wants us to renovate the basement for Domestic Relations. The architects are looking at that to see if it is feasible,” said Tharan.
Tharan said that would probably be done when the boiler project is started.
The courthouse project is not the only one on the county’s radar as commissioner Wayne Brosius said plans are in place to rebuild the East Brady Overlook.
Work is also continuing at the new Emergency Management/9-1-1 dispatch center. Emergency Management director Jeff Smathers said the target date for opening the center, “written lightly in pencil,” is May.
“With the supply chain issues there is just no way we can set a hard date,” he said.
The old 9-1-1 system will continue to operate until the new center is fully operational.
“Our big concern is not to miss any calls,” said Smathers, who added there is a redundant line that connects to other counties to prevent a dropped call.
“The tech is coming along,” said Smathers. “It is a transfer of equipment…not so much new equipment we are waiting on.”
The county is looking at installing a “learning center” at the former Sorce warehouse for various seminars and conferences.
Commissioners approved a no-interest loan for Eccles-Lesher Memorial Library in Rimersburg from the county’s loan program. The library was granted $10,000 for a new roof and has four years to repay the loan.
The fund was established to help non-profit organizations that had been denied traditional funding.
The commissioners unanimously accepted the updated county comprehensive plan, which will be posted on the county’s website.