photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

The Douglas County Commission listens to a presentation during a work session with county staff and representatives with Hernly Associates Inc. Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. The work session was about waterproofing work at the Douglas County Courthouse.

Douglas County leaders on Wednesday approved moving forward with a waterproofing project at the Douglas County Courthouse that county staff called “crucial.”

The commission agreed unanimously to a motion that will begin the process of waterproofing work to mitigate issues affecting the courthouse’s basement area. With that approval, county staff will direct Lawrence-based architectural design firm Hernly Associates Inc. to proceed with design and construction documentation for the project. The motion also sets an overall project budget of $1,491,139.

Commissioners didn’t talk at length about the project during their business meeting, but that’s because they heard more about it during a work session early Wednesday afternoon. The work session served as an opportunity for commissioners to ask county staff and representatives with Hernly Associates about the project — such as what would happen if the county doesn’t take care of this work sooner rather than later, a question posed by Commissioner Patrick Kelly.

“I think I can add as someone who has worked in the building for going on 12 years now, there are times where it’s wet down there,” Douglas County Administrator Sarah Plinsky said of the conditions in the basement. “It’s a limestone basement. We’ve done a number of things to try to mitigate that, but clearly we have staff that’s working in a space that’s wet. That’s not great.”


A presentation to the commission included photos of the water damage in the space, including on walls and windowsills.

It’ll take about eight months before any construction work begins, according to that presentation. A tentative timeline notes that design development, putting together construction documents and bidding will all take place during that time. Then, construction itself is estimated to take eight months, for a total project time from start to finish of 16 months.

The project was discussed at an earlier commission meeting in April, when county staff noted that the county will receive a $90,000 Heritage Trust Fund grant to apply toward the project, and other portions of the work will be eligible for state-level tax credit funding. Plinsky said Wednesday that the funding source for this project is outlined in the county’s Capital Improvement Plan, and county staff will be working to allocate funding to meet Hernly Associates’ estimates.

In other business, the commission:

• Approved authorizing Plinsky to enter into a contract with a participating cooperative contractor for the construction of a proposed remodel of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, and approving a total proposed project budget of $527,051.

The space is necessary because the county was awarded an additional judge earlier this year, leaving the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center one courtroom short. The remodel would repurpose 2,287 square feet of space previously occupied by the Lawrence Police Department before its departure to new facilities, turning it into a new hearing room, court reporter office, administrative assistant office space and judge’s chambers.

Though not confirmed, the county estimates the new judge could report for duty as early as mid-October, so staff is working to streamline the design and construction process so the remodeled spaces will be available as soon as possible.

“…This is important for our county, and I am personally excited that we are finally getting another district court judge, and what the impact of that will be on our judicial system,” Commissioner Shannon Reid said. “This is a perfect example of how counties have to respond to state decisions that are sometimes unpredictable; we don’t know when they’re going to come.”

• Approved a one-year extension for a previously approved conditional use permit for agricultural retail sales at Pine Landscape Center, located at 1783 East 1500 Road in unincorporated Douglas County.