The Garrard County Courthouse will continue to be the site of fiscal court meetings and offices for the sheriff, county clerk, property valuation administrator and county judge-executive.
The Administrative Office of the Courts will be making payments to finance the construction of the center and, when the debt is paid off, will begin renting the building from Garrard County.
Want center to complement courthouse
Wilson said adding the new center will be an improvement for the county because it will provide state-of-the-art facilities for all judicial services without diminishing the function of the courthouse.
"We want to have something that doesn't overshadow or sit inferior to the courthouse," he said.
Another member of the judicial center committee, Bob Noe of Lancaster, said, "I think this highly visible, state-of-the-art facility is going to be a place that will be very accessible to all Garrard County citizens, and that it will be a major building for its purpose for the next hundred years."
Noe, a local history buff, agreed with Wilson that making the judicial center a teammate to the courthouse is crucial.
Other members of the committee are Circuit Judge Hunter Daugherty, District Judge Bill Oliver, Circuit Clerk Dana Hensley, attorney James Sanders, and Magistrate Doan Adkison, whose district includes the courthouse and judicial center.
Wilson compared the committee and its progress on the judicial center to a paddling duck, saying, "It may look calm on the surface without much movement, but underneath we've been paddling like crazy, meeting at least once a month since the project was approved two years ago. Many people don't realize how much work goes into selecting a site, selecting an architect and engineers, getting interim financing done, and then designing a building that fits with our needs."
Monica Sumner of Brandstetter Carroll Inc. of Lexington is the key architect for the center. The committee is currently working with Sumner and other Brandstetter Carroll architects on the design phase of the project, said Wilson.
Branscum Construction Co. of Russell Springs is the construction manager, and C.D. Bowling & Associates of Lexington is the financial agent.
