State-Journal.com - New judicial center will be "our own stimulus package'

Photo By Charlie PearlFranklin County Judge-Executive Ted Collins gave his “State of the County” message to the Frankfort Area Chamber of Commerce Thursday at a luncheon in the Capital Plaza Hotel.

Judge-Executive Ted Collins has told the local Chamber of Commerce that the new $29 million judicial center will be “our own community stimulus package.”

The downtown construction will create 60 full-time jobs with an average pay of $20 to $22 an hour, said Collins Thursday in his “State of the County” message to about 45 at a luncheon in the Capital Plaza Hotel.

Construction should start in July and take 2 to 2 ½ years to complete, he said.

Collins showed a large drawing of the 82,000 square-foot facility that will be built around the 1835 courthouse and connect to it. The glass-and-limestone front on St. Clair Street will be elliptical-shaped and will have a public plaza.

From March 1-15, the entire judicial court system and sheriff’s office will be moving out of the courthouse to a temporary facility at 669 Chamberlin Ave. in Prevention Park.

“I know it’s going to be inconvenient,” Collins said. “Like they say in exercise – no pain, no gain – we’re going to experience some pain.”

There will be street closings on St. Clair and Wapping “for a short time, and Catfish Alley will probably be closed for two years,” Collins said.

He said the city has committed 35 parking spaces for the new judicial center, and with spaces in the Sullivan garage and behind the new Paul Sawyier Public Library, “we feel there will be adequate parking.”

Collins is chairman of the Project Development Board overseeing the judicial center project.

The board voted last June to pay $1.45 million for part of Good Shepherd Church’s downtown property – the church office, elementary school, playground and a portion of the gym. The 1850 church and 1922 middle school weren’t included in the deal.

A nonprofit organization was formed to help preserve the historic church. Plans are to convert the worship site to a Paul Sawyier gallery and cultural center.

Collins said the Project Development Board agreed to spend an extra $141,000 to make the new facility a “green project. It’s going to be as environmentally friendly as you can get and still build a building.”

Catfish Alley will be enhanced to a green corridor, he said.

In the construction project, “we’re going to try to use as many local people as we can and use as many local products as we can.”

Collins said the judicial center “is going to be a new face for downtown Frankfort and it will continue to be economic stimulus for both the city and county.”

Other highlights in Collins’ talk included:

>Fiscal Court creating a task force to investigate technologies to reduce or eliminate county solid waste that goes to the landfill. The task force has proposed a pilot project to convert waste to energy.

>County and city government cooperation. He said the city provides ambulance service to county residents “at the cost of only a few cents per day.”

The county jail provides the city with inmate labor for garbage pickup, which saves the city more than $160,000 a year, Collins said.

>The county receiving $237,000 in federal funds to help pay for renovations to the Thorn Hill Learning Center, a community “cornerstone.”

>The county receiving a $900,000 grant to help bring a wastewater treatment plant to the Farmdale Sanitation District. He said it would be the first public treatment plant in southern Franklin County and would provide sewer service to 2,000 customers.

>Fiscal Court managing to reduce its debt service from $1.42 million last year to $465,000 this year.

In the question and comment period following Collins’ remarks, Frankfort Tourism Director Joy Jeffries said the community is fortunate to have city and county government working well together.

In plenty of places across the state, cities and counties “quarrel constantly with each other, which makes it impossible to have progress,” Jeffries said.

She said she appreciates the cooperation between Collins and Mayor Gippy Graham.