Courthouse dome needs $140K in repairs
File photo by Tom Rivers: The Orleans County Courthouse dome is an iconic landmark in Albion. This photo was taken on May 5, 2015.
ALBION – The dome for the Orleans County Courthouse needs $140,000 in repairs. County officials have set aside the funds in the 2019 budget.
The dome has several leaks. Inside the dome are about a dozen buckets to collect the dripping water after it rains.
The county will have a rubberized coating put on the dome to protect it from leaks, said Chuck Nesbitt, the county’s chief administrative officer. That new coating will last for at least 25 years, he said.
“We want to preserve that asset for the county long-term,” Nesbitt said Monday during a public hearing on the county’s proposed $71.0 million budget.
The courthouse, which was built in 1858, is the focal point of the Courthouse Square, a district on the National Register of Historic Places.
The $140,000 repair on the dome is among $3,181,106 in capital projects for the county in the 2019 budget.
Most of the projects are in the highway department and include $1.5 million in road work, which is funded through the state with CHIPS – Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program.
CHIPS money will also pay $185,000 for a 10-wheel dump truck, $55,000 to replace a 3-ton dump truck and $69,365 toward dump truck leases.
The county will also do $669,000 of preventive maintenance on four bridges, with $535,000 from the federal TIP (Transportation Improvement Program) and $134,000 from the county.
The highway department will also do $100,000 of patching and sealing county roads with the county paying that expense.
Other capital projects will also be 100 percent funded by the county: $143,452 for vehicles in the Sheriff’s Office, $14,140 for a jail van lease, $9,000 to add a vehicle for animal control, $46,000 for computer services upgrade, $14,000 for wireless point to point project for computer services, $11,000 for Public Safety Building rewire for computer services, $6,645 for generator at Veterans Service Agency, $9,000 for a pickup truck lease for Weights and Measures, and $9,000 to replace the UTV (all-terrain vehicle) at the County Marine Park.
