Changes are coming to the 137-year-old Clarion County Courthouse, but many of them won’t be visible.
“The judge (Sarah Seidle-Patton) wants domestic relations on the third floor,” county commissioner Ted Tharan said. “We saw several possibilities. There is an easy way to get the space we need on third floor by rearranging and doing a little bit of work to get domestic relations on the third floor.”
Tharan said the two front corner rooms on the third floor are empty. An auditor’s room, jury deliberation room, conference room and an office for the senior judge are currently located on the third floor.
The sheriff’s office is located in the basement of the courthouse.
“We looked at the basement and there will be space there once EMA (Emergency Management Agency) finds a permanent home,” said Tharan. EMA is currently located in the basement.
EMA may move into a new 9-1-1 building, but there has been no progress in finding a new building, according to Tharan.
Tharan said the county is looking at building two handicapped accessible restrooms outside the second floor courtroom, then the basement restroom will be looked at.
“We have not discussed a fire suppression system for the entire courthouse,” said Tharan. “I would think we would look at a suppression system in the attic. Basically the only place that is wooden in the courthouse is the attic. Everything else is brick and concrete.”
Other changes may be coming.
“If there is enough space we would move the (public defender) into the courthouse. It would be difficult to move the district judge’s offices,” he said.
Tharan said the county is working with an architectural firm in Butler to develop a plan for allocation of space in the courthouse. Tharan said the plan would be compartmentalized with a design for the third floor of the courthouse the first priority.
“This is stuff that should have been done years ago,” said Tharan. “They kicked the can down the road for a long time and now it is time to get it done.”