Rainy weather in area slows courthouse construction work

Recent rainy weather in the region has put the construction of a new Union County courthouse in Jonesboro behind schedule.

An update on the project was shared at last Friday morning's regular meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners.

The meeting was Friday morning at the community building in Jonesboro.

Courthouse construction project manager Mike Smith presented an update to the commissioners.

Smith reported that due to heavy rain, construction was behind by two weeks. Rainy weather has continued for the past week.

Smith noted that information from the National Weather Service showed that more than 10 inches of rain had been measured in Southern Illinois.

Last month was reported to have been the wettest November on record since statistics were started in 1900.

Some progress was reported, though. The northeast corner and west wall basement sections of the new courthouse were poured. Wall footings with step footings at the center area of the north wall were poured.

East and west portions of the north basement wall were being formed.

Work began to dig more foundations areas for seismic and structural column bases and piers within the basement walls.

One seismic footing which was scheduled to be poured Friday was going to contain 120 yards of concrete.

In the coming weeks, the balance of the basement walls will be completed, with the exeption of an opening for trucks and machinery.

Delivery of steel columns has been moved to Dec. 12.

The long-term outlook for the project remains upbeat – the Union County Sheriff's Office and the county's 911 program could be moved into the new courthouse by the fall of 2012.

In related business, Union County Treasurer Darren Bailey reported that expenditures on the courthouse construction project totaled $577,719.36 through Dec. 2.

Funding for the project is being generated by a local sales tax.

In other business at Friday's meeting:

The commissioners reorganized and elected officers. Randy Lambdin is chairman. Don Denny is vice chairman.

The commissioners also set meeting dates for 2012. Regular meetings will continue to be held at 8:30 a.m. on the first and third Friday of each month.

The commissioners heard a request from the River to River Residential Corporation to consider a temporary property tax abatement for its new facility which opened recently in Anna.

The commissioners agreed to consider the request. However, in recent years, the commissioners have denied several similiar requests.

The county engineer's salary was set at $94,416. The salary is reimbursed from state motor fuel tax money allocated to the county and from federal money.

The county treasurer reported that the county's general fund had a balance of $83,676.81 as of Dec. 2.

The commissioners approved a request for funding in the amount of $11,800 from the Union County Bed and Breakfast Association.

The money will come from the county's hotel/motel tax tourism fund. The funds will be used for promotional purposes during 2012.

The commissioners also approved a request for $500 in tourism fund money to help promote a Civil War weekend event which is being planned in February 2012 in Anna.