Allen County Commissioners plan to renovate the courthouse.
Allen County Commissioners made their annual state of the county speech to the Lima Rotary Club Monday. Brian Winegardner and Cory Noonan told us that they are planning to use a portion of the county's American Rescue Plan Act funding to renovate the courthouse, move all the courts into the building, and construct a new county administration building. "We're working right now to bring in a design firm that's going to meet with all the offices to get an understanding of the space we need, the layout, the configuration," said Noonan. "We're in the process of doing that right now. At the end of the day we think we're in a place to really take care of our structural needs. It's no surprise that our building are aging, they're old, they need significant investments. If we can maybe sell a couple of them an going into a new, it'll make us more efficient." Noonan says the ARPA dollars have be spent by the end of 2026. He says once the new administration building is in place, renovation on the courthouse can begin. "The county's anniversary is 2031. And 2031, I would love for that be the goal of having these projects done. We believe that we have the financing. We have the dollars. We have a plan to complete all this. It's exciting. It's going to be good for the county."
Winegardner added that they are looking to use some of the ARPA funds to upgrade the county's infrastructure, especially water lines and septic sewer lines, and to purchase a new command bus for the county's safety services.
Regarding the future of Memorial Hall, Winegardner told us the commissioners put a new roof on the building last year, but the county government has no specific plan for the building.