ATTORNEY Robert Herman, left, talks with his clients Tuesday morning in the City Hall parking lot, prior to entering the Gerald Police station to meet with an FBI investigator checking into allegations of numerous civil rights violations. These violations, Herman alleges in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, were inflicted by terminated members of the Gerald Police Department and Bill Jakob, who posed as a federal agent. From left are Herman, Heather Holland, with back to camera, holding son Avery; Mikey Holland, and Kyle and Pam Story. Herman who has taught a class for the Missouri Bar Association on civil rights violations, calls this case the “most outrageous civil rights violations I have ever seen.”

Gasconade County has an imminent problem that must be addressed! Over the last 100 years our county has grown and, with it, the need for county services has grown. And the space required by these county services has surpassed the space available in a building that is over 100 years old. Our  assessment is that we need at least twice the space that is currently available.

In addition, our current building has some problems that require immediate attention. We are gravely concerned about  the safety of our county employees and citizens who frequent the building. The electrical wiring predates many of the safety codes enacted to avoid fire hazards. In some cases wiring is not properly grounded. In most cases wiring is not isolated by conduit. In a predominately wooden interior, the chances  of a fire are not insignificant.

And, in the event of a fire, the water line to the building is too small to provide sufficient volume of water to fight the fire and the nearest fire-hydrant is down on street level. In addition, the current road to the building is too small to accommodate modern firefighting equipment. Inside, there are very limited means of travel between floors. Thus, exiting the building from the second floor would be difficult. From the second floor courtroom the fire escapes are rope ladders which are extended out of the windows. We wonder how many of our citizens would even be able to use such a device.

In recent years there has been a lot of legislation requiring accommodations for our citizens with disabilities. While our building does have ramps and access from the parking lot, there is no compliant access from the street level or the location of public transportation. Inside the building, there are no elevators or chair lifts, so access is restricted to the first floor. In addition, there is only one restroom in the courthouse that can accommodate a wheelchair.

Some years ago, an all-steel “brig” was moved into the courthouse to provide a jail and secure space for “holding” prisoners awaiting court dates. Unfortunately, the extreme weight of this room is creating severe stress on the courthouse structure. Despite reinforcements that have been added, outer walls are bulging and floors are cracking and settling. This “addition” needs to be removed before it collapses the rest of the building.

Not surprisingly, considering the courthouse was built over a century ago, the building was not designed to withstand seismic events. A reoccurrence of the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquake (which is predicted within a 300 year cycle) could have disastrous effects.

With these concerns driving our efforts, we worked with the Missouri Development Finance Board to issue a Request For Proposal. We received five excellent proposals. We narrowed this down to three architectural firms which we interviewed. We then entered into a contract held by the MDFB with Michael Roth & Associates out of Clayton. This contract was funded entirely with private funds with no public funds used.  

The contract began with a series of interviews whereby  every  county department head was asked to describe their responsibility, the amount of space currently used, and the amount of space required to provide an efficient operation. These requirements were tabulated for later use.

In parallel, an engineering team did an evaluation of the courthouse and the Owensville Elementary School 3-5 Center. They considered structural integrity, wiring, plumbing, heating/cooling, asbestos use, presence of lead based paint, and other factors that would affect the effort and cost to renovate the buildings for county use.

Another team did a search of state statutes to determine what flexibility exists for moving and placing the various county functions. This was then used to identify 11 scenarios that were possible solutions to the location of county facilities. Four of these scenarios placed all of the function in Hermann. Two of these scenarios placed all of the function in Owensville. Five of the scenarios had function in both Hermann and Owensville. Seven of the scenarios used the current courthouse. Four did not. Six of the scenarios kept the county seat in Hermann. Five of the scenarios moved the county seat to Owensville. All eleven scenarios were fully considered and cost-estimated to ensure that the study was comprehensive and complete. Only then was the process narrowed to three options for final consideration.

Meanwhile the committee was identifying other counties in the state that have built or renovated facilities recently. We then made contact, either by phone or physical visit, to determine their size and costs for comparison purposes. These were used to test the reasonableness of the numbers that were generated for our project.

One of the basic drivers of cost is NSF (net square feet). NSF is the inside measurement of offices, rooms, etc. (i.e. the usable space in a building not including walls, hallways, restrooms, etc.). This was determined by interviews with each of the department heads. After these interviews were conducted, a detailed listing and sizing of every office, workroom, and storage area required, was made. This listing was then reviewed with each of the department heads. Concurrence was achieved to ensure we had the right balance of space required without excess.   

For purposes of analysis the space was divided up into two categories: administrative and judicial. This was important because by its nature, judicial space can not be placed as efficiently into a building as administrative space can. For our purposes, judicial includes the circuit courts, the circuit clerk, and the prosecuting attorney.

Administrative includes all other functions including the commissioners, the county clerk, treasurer, collector, assessor, emergency management, sheriff, public administrator, coroner, and surveyor.  

One of the conclusions of the study is the NSF required because this will be one of the principal cost drivers for the project. Our conclusions are listed below:

                     CURRENT   PROPOSED

Administrative      5,029    9,675

Judicial               5,980    13,175

     Total            11,009    22,850

We will continue next week with a description of the three options and preliminary cost estimates.