Jasper Board Approved Judicial-Only Courthouse Project

Jasper County Board members have decided to build a new Courthouse in Newton that will house judicial offices only.

The Board had asked Architecture and Design Group and Stone and Waggoner Consulting Engineers to consider a Courthouse containing judicial offices only as well as an all-inclusive structure housing all county offices.

The direct replacement, housing judicial offices only, is projected to cost $5,829,780, while a structure adding County offices is projected to cost $8,841,030. The Board then voted in favor of the judicial offices only facility. Other County offices are located in the Jasper County Office Building, located west of the existing Courthouse.

In the meantime, the Board agreed to the establishment of a Special Courthouse Design Committee. Board member Michael Geier will chair the committee. Other members will include board members A.C. Pickens, James Judson and Eric Spiker, along with Resident Circuit Judge Chad Miller, Circuit Clerk Jamie Blake, Sheriff Brandon Francis, and State's Attorney James Treccia. 

During a contentious portion of the meeting, board members set the County Coroner's salary for the coming term. The salary will increase $250 in each of the coming four years. Salaries must be set before the start of new terms. The agreement on the salary, which is now $20,000, is higher than the average salary for a coroner in a county with a population of less than 10,000, like Jasper County. That average salary is less than $15,000. Eight different motions were made before the Board approved an increase of $250 each year.

In other business, the Jasper board learned that the Jasper County/City of Newton website is to go live by the end of June or first of July. It was agreed to seek a grant that would finance an upgrade of the street lighting and sidewalks on the County property. The Board also approved a School Resource Officer agreement between the Jasper Unit 1 Board of Education and the County Board with a vote by the school board on the agreement set for their June 20th meeting. The Board also gave tentative approval to an amended County board for the balance of the fiscal year with final approval scheduled at the Board's June meeting.

Jasper board members also concurred in the appointment of Ron Zwilling to a two-year term on the County Board of Review, and approved a variance to a county setback along the Hunt City Road of 50 feet.