photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The Douglas County Courthouse's meeting room is expected to finish undergoing renovations by Jan. 13. It is pictured Friday, Dec. 20, 2024.

Renovations to the commission meeting room at the Douglas County Courthouse are expected to be completed in the coming weeks, just in time for the two new county commissioners who will be seated. Meanwhile, masonry restoration on the building’s exterior will continue for several more months.

The meeting room on the second floor of the historic courthouse at 11th and Massachusetts streets has been undergoing renovations since late last year and is expected to be completed by Jan. 13, just in time for the swearing-in ceremony of elected officials. Douglas County will soon have five commissioners instead of three.

Douglas County Capital Projects Coordinator Jay Zimmerschied told the Journal-World in an email Friday that some of the remaining components of the project include the dais extensions to support the two new commissioners, carpet runners, acoustical wall panels, and limited audio-visual component integrations as staff moves their existing equipment back to the courthouse from the temporary meeting location at the Douglas County Public Works building, 3755 E. 25th St.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Crews power-wash the Douglas County Courthouse in October 2024.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

A meeting area in the Douglas County Courthouse is pictured Friday, Dec. 20, 2024.

This equipment was needed at Public Works to support the County Commission’s meeting schedule through the 2024 calendar year. Zimmerschied said that the renovation team believes all aspects of the project will be done by Jan. 2, with the possible exception of the acoustical wall panels, which may need to be added to the room once it is in use. He added that this would not prevent county staff from using the room for its intended purpose.

As the Journal-World reported, during renovation of the meeting room, a pattern was revealed behind the historic dais backboard. The piece had been on the wall for so long and not removed when the walls around it were painted. So when workers removed it recently, they found a pattern that looked as though people had painted the plaster to mimic marble blocks.

Zimmerschied said via email that after the pattern was discovered, it was replicated around the entire room perimeter below the wood wainscot trim that was originally installed in 1904.

The courthouse was built in 1904, and it’s listed on the national and state Register of Historic Places. The overall goal of the project was to preserve the integrity of the room’s historic features while equipping it with modern technologies — and also to allow the room to accommodate five commissioners and to repair water damage that occurred in October 2022 from a fire sprinkler flood.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

This marble-like pattern was behind the historic dais background, and it is now replicated around the Douglas County Courthouse meeting room. It is pictured Friday, Dec. 20, 2024.

In December 2023, the commissioners approved a projected budget of $1.3 million for the project. The county will use $135,000 from an insurance settlement to repair and replace items damaged by the related flooding, including ceiling tiles, light fixtures and audio-visual equipment. Additionally, the county is set to receive approximately $172,000 in state tax credits for work done on the historic components of the project.

While the meeting chambers work is expected to wrap up soon, the outdoor masonry work is still scheduled to be completed in March, but this work is weather sensitive, Zimmerschied said in the email. He added that if we have a cold winter, the project will extend further into the spring.

County commissioners signed an agreement in October in the amount of $791,367 for the above grade masonry restoration work, which refers to masonry work that is for brick or stone walls built above the ground level.

This funding is allocated for cleaning all sides of the courthouse and to restore and repoint portions of the west elevation, as well as the entire south, east and north elevations. These facades were not addressed in the courthouse’s previous restoration work in 2010, when masonry restoration and repointing were finished only on the left side of the west entrance doors.

photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The southeast corner the Douglas County Courthouse is pictured Friday, Dec. 20, 2024.