Jasper County Board Reviewing Plans for Courthouse Project

Jasper county board members are looking at several significant projects, including whether to repair or replace the County Courthouse in Newton.

Conner and Conner Engineers and ADG Engineering submitted a feasibility and assessment study this fall. The Board plans to discuss the study at a meeting in January to decide how to proceed. A structural engineer has requested the immediate closure of the north entrance of the Courthouse.

The County has received an energy transition grant, so those funds will be used on the Courthouse project.

Meanwhile, work has begun on a Jasper County website. Imagine This! of Effingham has been approved to develop a one-stop website for both Jasper County and the City of Newton. 

There was also discussion of a project involving the City of Newton and Grace United Methodist Church that would create a green space west of the Jasper County Office Building in Newton.

The Jasper Board discussed partnering on a regional broadband system with Crawford, Cumberland, Clark, Coles and Lawrence counties. The Board also reappointed Marcia Street to the Board of Review; reappointed Larry Brooks and Doug Klier to the E-911 Board; and approved a grant writing services agreement with South Central Illinois Regional Planning and Development Commission to seek grant funds for costs of the jail facility construction project.

The Board also recognized John Curtright for 41 years of service with the Jasper County Ambulance Service.