Courthouse grant moving forward
Trinity Standard , July 2007
By GREG PEAK
Area news editor

GROVETON – Provided Texas voters okay bond money in November, the restoration of the Trinity County Courthouse in Groveton is expected to be approved next year.
Trinity County commissioners were told Monday that the local project currently is ranked among the top courthouses around the state in terms of overall grant score by the Texas Historical Commission (THC).
Architect Bob Brown of the Galveston-based firm of Michael Gaertner Architects said that during the last round of THC courthouse preservation grants, a total of 15 projects received construction grants.
“Right now you are among the nine courthouse projects across the state that have 160 points or more on their grant scores,” he said.
“Because you received a planning grant in 2004, you will receive an additional 10 points on your grant score, bringing you up to 170,” he said.
Based upon past history of the grant, Brown told commissioners the Trinity County Courthouse project is almost certain to be awarded construction money sometime in 2008.
“Statistically speaking, you are in a very good spot to receive funding,” he told commissioners.
During the presentation, Michael Gaertner said the THC’s courthouse program had “been on hiatus” for the past two years but now appears to be back on track.
The Texas legislature has earmarked $62 million to be spent on the program during the coming two year biennium. However, the money is set to come from state bonds which voters must approve in a November election.
Under the restoration plan, the exterior of the 93-year-old building will be restored to as close to its original appearance as possible.
In addition, all of the false ceilings inside the courthouse will be removed and the hallways and district courtroom will be restored to their original looks.
The project also calls for new electrical and plumbing systems to be installed as well as an elevator to connect the three courthouse floors. A central heating and cooling system will be added to the building to replace window air conditioners and space heaters.
Two years ago – before the grant program was placed on hold due to a lack of funding – the estimated cost of the local project was about $4 million.
Trinity County Judge Mark Evans told both Brown and Gaertner that they will now have to “recost” the project and come up with a new price tag.
The architects said such figures probably would be available in August or September.
Commissioners noted that because the county would be required to pay 15 percent of the total cost, they will need to know how much the local share will be and how soon they would have to budget it.
Evans indicated that the local matching funds – which would have been $600,000 under the old $4 million estimate – could be obtained either by issuing certificates of obligation or through a county bond election.
Brown said he would begin revising the county’s grant application as soon as the THC issues the rules and regulations for the program later this month.
He said that THC will probably ask for the applications to be submitted as early as October and that winners would be named in 2008.
Because the county received a $373,000 THC planning grant in 2004, Brown noted that the construction plans and specifications are now 95 percent complete. Once the grant is approved, he said they could be quickly finished, taking into account any design changes needed to comply with any recent changes in fire and safety regulations.
At that point, the county would be able to call for bids on the project, Brown said.
“We are very excited to be working on this project,” Gaertner told commissioners. “There is a lot of history in this building and once this project is done, the building should last a very long time without any major maintenance.”

Other business
During the meeting, commissioners also:
• Approved a request from the Trinity Rural Water Supply Corporation to allow them to use county road right-of-ways to install new water lines in the Trinity and Chita-Sebastopol areas. TRWSC plans to build a new one-million gallon per day water plant south of Trinity and the new lines in the Trinity area are designed to move that water to TRWSC’s existing lines. Road right-of-ways approved for use by TRWSC include Old Riverside Road, Pinecrest Road, Saw Mill Street, South Mill Pond Road and Thornton Road. In addition, the county will allow the company to cross Fountain Road, Old Onalaska Road and Baker Lane with new water lines.
• Re-approved the agreement with the City of Groveton to allow Pct. 1 Commissioner Grover “Tiger” Worsham of Groveton to perform maintenance work on city streets. Under the terms of the contract, the city pays the county $2,900 per month to cover the cost of the work.
• Appointed the election judges and alternate judges to two-year terms based upon the recommendation of County Clerk Diane McCrory. The clerk explained that under Texas law, the political party which won a voting box in the previous governor’s elections gets to name that box’s judge while the other party gets to name the alternate judge. Under this system, 12 of the county’s 19 voting boxes will have a Republican judge while the remaining seven will be from the Democratic Party.
• Authorized Pct. 4 Commissioner Travis Forrest of Apple Springs to purchase a 2008 Ford F-250 pickup for $24,711 and to finance it under a lease with BancorpSouth.
• Accepted bids on the sale of three pieces of equipment being offered by Pct. 2 Commissioner Jannette Hortman of Trinity. A 1981 John Deere backhoe was sold to Truss Outdoor Equipment of Groveton for $4,567.89; a 1988 Chevrolet dump truck was sold to Shane Loving of Trinity for $3,600; and a 1995 Freightliner dump truck was sold to S&G Soil Service of Trinity for $13,100.
• Ratified the sale of property seized for the non-payment of taxes by the Trinity County Appraisal District. The property included three lots located in Hawg Heaven, one in Port Adventure and one in the Branton Addition.
• Approved the payment of $500 for a pauper funeral for Katherine Diettinger.
• Set public hearings for 10 a.m. Aug. 13 to set 25 mile per hour speed limits on County Line Road, North Scrub Creek Road, Neil Helton Road, Rustling Wind Street and Camp Branch Road. A hearing also was set for Aug. 13 on the placement of stop signs on Rustling Wind Street at its intersection with Camp Branch Road.
The speed limits on these roads and the stop sign placement all had been previously approved by commissioners but County Attorney Joe Bell said that in each case, the wrong section of the Texas Transportation Code was listed in the orders. “I want to revisit these items and clean them up so there will be no room for a challenge down the road,” he told commissioners. In the mean time, the previously approved speed limit and stop signs will remain in place.