Commissioners vote in favor of Master Plan for courthouse

In previous months, the Coryell County Commissioners Court agreed to hire a firm to create a courthouse Master Plan to assist with future repairs and restoration of the 125-year-old structure.

After much deliberation, and after receiving bids from several firms, the commissioners met June 11 and a firm was chosen to create the plan. This will allow the county to apply for grants to restore the remaining three domes atop the building, which have suffered from considerable leaks and water damage within the structure.

In a previous comment, Coryell County Attorney Brandon Belt described the need for such a document. “A Master Plan is required to apply for grant funds to work on the courthouse. The purpose of a Master Plan is to evaluate the current state of the courthouse and set priorities for rehabilitating and maintaining the building,” he said.

Three firms made bids to create the plan. The unanimous decision of the commissioners was to accept the proposal made by the Architexas firm to develop the plan. On July 23, the commissioners voted to accept the bid from Architexas at a cost of $65,000.

Architexas provides a broad range of services encompassing architecture, planning and historic preservation. With every project, the firm follows a process that begins with researching and understanding the context — the physical, historical and programmatic conditions — within which they will be working. Each project is seen as an opportunity to create a carefully crafted response to a unique set of circumstances and client aspirations.

County Commissioner Ryan Basham said, “If we have a courthouse Master Plan, that will allow us to use grant-funded money and not the taxpayers’ money.”

Basham said Alexis McKinney, a representative of Architexas, will conduct a workshop about the plan during the next county commissioner’s court meeting Aug. 13.

McKinney will discuss several courthouse issues, including Task 1, the historical and architectural development; Task 2, the evaluation of existing conditions; Task 3, rehabilitation recommendations; Task 4, probable construction cost budgets; and Task 5, master plan reports to compilation.

“At the end of the day, this courthouse Master Plan is important. We have some projects that need to be addressed and we don’t want to wait around until it gets too bad,” Basham said. He continued, “I want to get this moving because I don’t want to wait and let one of the domes get worse, and this will allow us to apply for helpful grants.”