The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners took the first step Monday toward financing the courthouse annex project.
Crews are renovating the former Williamsburg Health Care facility off Lafayette Road into a $5.5 million government center that will house county offices and public board meetings. Construction is expected to be finished in the fall, and the project will be paid for through lease financing.
A resolution passed by the commissioners formally declared a need for the financing and spelled out the terms of the proposed lease.
The maximum lease term is 20 years with a maximum annual lease rental of $440,000. The amount is based on an estimated principal bond amount of no more than $6 million, which tacks the issuance of bonds and interest onto the total project cost.
The approximately 40,000-square-foot annex will include about 40 offices, meeting rooms and other facilities. Offices currently housed on the first floor of the courthouse and in the South Boulevard County Building are moving into the government center.
Meanwhile, the commissioners requested the Indiana Department of Transportation provide a firmer timetable for upcoming bridge work on State Road 47 South and sought changes to a proposed unofficial detour route to keep semitrailer traffic off newly-repaved county roads.
INDOT plans to close the bridge over Conner Creek, about three miles north of State Road 234, for repairs beginning Aug. 2. No projected completion date was given.
While INDOT establishes official detour routes during road closures that redirect traffic onto other highways, the agency works with local communities to set shorter routes for local traffic. INDOT also agrees to reimburse counties for damage to county roads caused by the additional traffic.
The proposed local detour route follows C.R. 600S to U.S. 231 and onto Purple Heart Parkway, which runs in front of Walmart.
The City of Crawfordsville recently repaved Purple Heart and the Town of New Market just resurfaced its section of 600S.
“I don’t understand why we’re giving [INDOT] a local detour on Purple Heart Parkway when they can go another quarter of a mile and be at their own state highway,” commissioner Jim Fulwider said.
The commissioners are instead asking INDOT to reroute local traffic onto State Road 234 during the project.
A road closure from an INDOT project last summer
created problems with semitrucks detouring on county roads.
Semitrucks will be prohibited from using C.R. 300 and 400S during the latest project.
The commissioners also gave their approval for an engineering firm to update the county’s multi-hazard mitigation plan.
Indianapolis-based Christopher B. Burke Engineering will overhaul the plan as mandated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency every five years.
Under the plan, the county can participate in a program offering flood insurance premium discounts to policyholders, including property owners in floodplains.
The plan can also make the county eligible for federal reimbursement of safe room construction costs. Safe rooms are designed to provide near-absolute protection in high-wind events, including tornadoes.
In other business, ordinances were introduced to:
• Rename a portion of C.R. 200S between Nucor Road and C.R. 250E to Comfort Drive for the future Tempur Sealy plant and establish a 40 mph speed limit. If approved, the changes will take effect Sept. 1.
• Change the speed limits on the following roads: Purple Heart Parkway to 35 mph; 200E between U.S. 136 and Elmore Street to 30 mph; and Offield Monument Road to 35 mph.
• Formalize the county’s existing pregnancy and childbirth accommodation policies to comply with new state and federal laws. The policy allows an employee to request employment accommodations related to pregnancy, childbirth or associated medical conditions. In line with the federal law, the county will add non-discrimination language to the policy.
