ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 27, 1991                   TAG: 9102270069
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER/ NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium


MORE DATA SOUGHT ON COURTHOUSE

Supervisor Bruce Fariss is still arguing for letting county voters decide whether, and where, more courthouse facilities should be built.

But the rest of the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors apparently disagrees with that approach.

Still, the board supported Fariss' motion at its Monday night meeting to have its staff get more data on operating costs, space and other aspects of the courthouse options being considered.

The board has already decided to rebuild the historic courthouse building in downtown Pulaski that was gutted by fire Dec. 29, 1989. But those facilities were deemed insufficient even before the fire.

A $4 million bond issue referendum to rebuild the old courthouse with additional facilities was defeated by one vote last Nov. 6.

County Administrator Joseph Morgan has already presented the board with cost comparisons of four approaches to improving court and county office facilities.

The first approach involves renovation at the Pulaski Courthouse site and the use of existing privately owned Pulaski buildings for some county functions, at an estimated cost of $3,530,000.

Another possibility is renovation and additional facilities at the downtown Pulaski site itself, which would cost $4,660,000.

The other two options would relocate court and support offices elsewhere in the county, possibly to surplus school acreage east of Dublin, while leaving some county offices in the old courthouse.

The estimated cost of those two options is $4,715,000, in which the existing brick courthouse annex would be used, and $5,399,000, in which it would be abandoned.

"I feel that we should provide the people with the comparisons and let them decide," Fariss said, but he added that more information beyond the cost comparisons would be needed first.



 by CNB