(Arnolds Park)– About 60 people attended a public input meeting Tuesday evening on the Dickinson county courthouse as the board of supervisors look at a fourth bond issue referendum late this summer.
Al Oberlander and Kevin Stubbs, architects with the R-D-G architectural firm of Des Moines outlined deficiencies of the 1891 building and its additions. They then presented eight different possible options. One of them would result in the remodeling of the 1891 building with construction of a new facility underground–an option Oberlander admitted would be very costly. Another involves tearing down the 1891 building and its additions, including the sheriff’s office, and building all-new. Other options ranged from remodeling the 1891 building, keeping the additions, and building new surrounding the existing buildings, to keeping the newer additions, demolishing the 1891 building and building new to house the court system and administrative offices. Some historic components of the 1891 building could be saved and incorporated into the new construction. That option seemed to have the support of both those concerned over preserving the county’s history, and those who don’t think it’s feasible to save the 1891 building.
All of the options involve the existing site. Some would require the closure of Ithaca Avenue. Representatives of the city of Spirit Lake who were at Monday evening’s meeting couldn’t guarantee if they would still be in favor of doing that. The city gave its approval to such a request during an earlier courthouse proposal.
None of the options had cost estimates attached. Oberlander says they’ll be working on that in upcoming days. He says that will be a driving force behind the supervisors decision as to what option they’ll go with, and whether or not preserving the 1891 part of the courthouse will be a part of that.
Oberlander says they plan to start narrowing down their options today, weighing the pros and cons of each, along with estimated costs. From there, he says they’ll put together more detailed plans to refine the cost estimates of those options, and possibly develop two or three new ones that haven’t been identified yet that would bring the best of the options together.
Oberlander remains confident he’ll be able to recommend an option for a bond issue proposal in time for a vote in August or September.
