Have you ever faced a home improvement project that had to be done but because of its scope and cost you didn’t really know where to begin? In many ways that describes the Barton County Commission who face costly repairs to the 100-year old courthouse but have yet to reveal a plan to make those repairs. WDM Architects completed a structural analysis of the courthouse back in May that revealed the four outside corners of the structure are separating from the center of the building on the 4th floor. Commissioners have yet to provide a timeline for those repairs although County Administrator Phil Hathcock said last week that the board recently met with WDM to discuss options. No money has been allocated for any of the repairs in the 2019 budget, something that Hathcock says would be very difficult to do since they don’t know what the exact cost will be yet. He anticipated that money to make the repairs would come out of the capital improvement fund.
In May, Hathcock estimated the repair costs to be anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million dollars, but that estimate did not include a new roof.
(Read more: Great Bend Post)