“Do you understand the difference between six and 14?”

COURTHOUSE ANALYSIS Com­-mittee member Gerald Ebker (right) explains the present courthouse site to those attending a town hall meeting Thursday in Owensville. Around 150 attended the event.

That was Gerald Ebker’s response to repeated questions by a county resident wondering why people wanted to move the county seat from Hermann to Owensville. 

The woman and her husband repeatedly asked if feasibility studies had been completed. They asked if a cost analysis had been made on what it would cost to move the government center to Owensville.

Ebker and fellow members of the Courthouse Analysis Committee answered questions and presented all three courthouse options Thursday during a 90-minute town hall meetings at the Owensville Lions Club Den. Ebker’s response was in reference to the cost estimates of $6 million to convert the old OES 3-5 Center into a government center up to $14 million to build an annex and rehabilitate the exiting 1898 courthouse. Estimates and site drawings were developed with input from architects hired to assist the analysis committee.

Ebker, speaking on behalf of the five-man committee, said the “6, 10, and 14 (million dollar cost estimates) are good numbers. Good estimates” in response to a question from one of the 150 people attending. “Are they good numbers? We could be off a million dollars,” he added.

All three options presented to the county commission this spring include the 22,000 square feet of space the analysis group identified as needed by county government. No jail is included in any of the three options. Only holding cells, for day use only to secure court prisoners, are planned for either of the three proposals.

Gary Pohlmann, vice president of the R-2 Board of Education, addressed a question about health concerns in the OES 3-5 Center. He noted many of those concerns, and those with handicap accessibility, were actually from the 1908 K-2 Center. The main reason a new building was sought, he said, was to consolidate all five grades in one building as opposed to having two elementary schools and two separate support staffs. “It was a dollars and cents issue. That’s why we went that way,” he said.

Local businessmen Don Lenauer and Jim Decker own the OES 3-5 Center building and adjoining property. Both served on the analysis committee and have pledged the site as a donation to the county if it can be used as a government center. Lenauer noted the county’s population center has shifted in the past 100 years and is now located near the northern edge of Owensville’s city limits.

“Get emotions out of it and do what’s best for everyone in Gasconade County,” said Decker. Then, addressing a second effort to keep a proposal to move the county seat of government to Owensville off the ballot in November, Decker added, “if two-thirds vote to move it, it should be moved.”

“We have a petition with thirty-one hundred people who signed it,” said Lenauer. “Fifty years ago we needed more room. We have the 3-5 Center given to the county. That’s why we’re trying to move the county seat.”