Cumberland County has found a temporary solution to the structural damage of its old courthouse.
Mayor Allen Foster said engineers indicated that six columns can be installed to support the building while a permanent solution is studied.
“That will disperse the weight, hold up the trusses and they’ll do some remedial work,” Foster said. “We’re going to have a specialist infrastructural analyst that will be visiting the building later this month and give us an overall opinion of the structure later this month.”
Foster said the temporary solution will be less expensive than anticipated since the floors were poured with concrete. Foster said he imagines the permanent fix will be expensive.
“It is good news,” Foster said. “It could have been much worse. The public, commissioners and those that built this in 1905 understood that and they weren’t skimpy. They went the extra mile and thankfully poured those floors in concrete. That means we don’t have to penetrate through the floors.”
The commission approved moving forward with the temporary columns Monday night.
Foster said the front section of the courthouse remains closed which is where the county clerk’s office was located. Foster said the clerk’s temporary office is open at 1760 South Main Street.
Foster said the mayor’s office, the register of deeds, veterans services, human resources and finance department still operating normally at the old courthouse.
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