Construction Begins Next Week On Jefferson County Courthouse

By Gordon HopkinsBeginning Monday, July 22, 2024, repair work and construction will begin on the second floor of the Jefferson County Courthouse in Fairbury. That work is expected to last three months.Bob Elgert of EBS Construction spoke to Jefferson County Commissioners on Tuesday, July 9, to discuss the matter, “What we’re trying to do is, up on the second floor, we’re protecting the ceilings. After the courtroom had the ceiling fall in. There’s cracks up there. So, we are going to put some one-by-fours up there to protect it, put drywall back up to seal it off.” A large portion of the ceiling in the courtroom collapsed the afternoon of Wednesday, May 27, 2020.The courtroom was unusable until repairs were completed.The courthouse had been closed to the public for several weeks prior due to the COVID-19 pandemic but reopened fully on June 8. Until the ceiling was repaired and the courtroom reopened, County and District Courts were held either in the old courtroom (now the County Commissioners meeting room) on the first floor or at the Jefferson County Law Enforcement Center, as circumstances dictated.Elgert said they will try to minimize the disruption to courthouse operations, “The elevator will always be accessible.” “We’ll have a staging area out south of the building here.Sidewalk will be closed with signage telling you to go around to the east, west and north doors,” said Elgert. “Courts will be going on while we’re doing this phase. Nothing will change. Traffic can still come in and go but they can’t use the south exits.”Elgert said, “All trash will be going out the window from a chute to a dumpster, and that’s where the staging area will be. So, that’s kind of the scope right now that we will be doing on this project.”Elgert estimated budget for the project to be $271,014.48.

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