Court approves resolution supporting Courthouse renovation, discusses Randle-Rather needs

Gonzales County Commissioners Court voted 3-1 Monday, Oct. 28, to approve a resolution supporting the restoration of the Gonzales County Courthouse with funding from Round XIII of the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program (THCPP).

Commissioners also discussed the deteriorating state of outside of the Randle-Rather Annex, but agreed to wait until it could be determined if the building qualified for any grants due to historical status before taking any further action other than installing safety scaffolding.

Courthouse preservation grant

Back in August, Gonzales County voted 4-1 to accept a $1,095,429 THCPP planning grant from the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program, with the lone dissenting vote being by Precinct 2 Commissioner Donnie Brzozowski.

The county will be required to come up with a 30 percent match of a little more than $469,000 for the THC grant, which can be used to develop construction documents for the full restoration of a historic courthouse. Gonzales County had 90 days from July 29 to accept or decline the grant. The matching funds are being budgeted over the course of the next two fiscal years.

Adopting a resolution of support on Monday was the final action the county needed to take in order to receive the grant funding from the state, architect Tere O’Connell of O’Connell Architecture LLC told the court.

“You agreed to sign a resolution, a deed covenant restricting or confirming that the Texas Historical Commission has authority over work that occurs at the courthouse, and that you would comply with the Secretary of Interior’s standards for rehabilitation, and this is the final sign off on that,” O’Connell said.

“This is the final commitment to the promise that was made in the grant application to the state. The three things that need the county's signature are the source of funds statement, the resolution of support and the grant of easement.”

The resolution notes the courthouse has served the county since 1896 and is in need of repair and upgrades and recognizes the grant application sent in by O’Connell’s firm after they had developed a master plan for the county earlier this year.

It states that by approving the resolution, the county affirms “its willingness to accept this funding award, to contribute the funding necessary to complete the project, to enter into the aforementioned Funding Agreement and to hereby declare its complete support for this important project to preserve the Gonzales County Courthouse for future generations.”

County Judge Pat Davis, Precinct 3 Commissioner Kevin La Fleur and Precinct 4 Commissioner Collie Boatright voted in favor of the resolution, while Brzozowski voted against it. Precinct 1 Commissioner K.O. “Dell” Whiddon was not present for the meeting.

Randle-Rather

Last month, commissioners heard a report from Ken Bownds of Curtainwall Design Consulting about the damage to the Randle-Rather building’s south-facing limestone façade.

Bownds had conducted a field study of the limestone façade delamination and failures at the Randle-Rather Annex after pieces of exterior from upper floors previously had crumbled and fallen off, creating a potential hazard for those trying to go into and out of the building.

In his report to commissioners, Bownds said that while ground observations of the other three faces of the building (east, north and west) do not appear to show signs of limestone distress, the limestone elements on the south side are at a point that needs to be addressed “to limit further deterioration and risk of falling pieces.”

“It is CDC’s opinion that the south possess an immediate overhead risk from falling limestone pieces being ‘shed’ from the base element due to deterioration/delamination and overhead protection should be in place,” Bownds said, referring to placing of scaffolding around the south side of the building.

Gonzales County commissioners then voted Tuesday, Oct. 15, to put up scaffolding around the Randle-Rather building. The cost to erect and dismantle the scaffolding alone is between $29,000 to $32,000 with a rental cost of about $2,900 per month and it will take about five days to get the scaffolding to Gonzales and erected.

At Monday’s meeting, Davis told commissioners his office had done some additional research about the Randle-Rather building and found out “it is still considered a historical building.”

“That opens up the possibility that there may be some type of funds or grants out there to assist us in that,” Davis said. “However, I think the most important thing which you all did in the last court, when I was not here, is to build that tunnel or whatever to keep anybody from being hurt, and you can continue to actually utilize the building.

“I think that may give us a little bit of time to go into research to see if we can get some funds from either state or federal in order to assist us with the rehabilitation of this building on the items that it needs,” Davis added.

Commissioners unanimously approved a competitive bidding exemption for Randle Rather repairs in accordance with Texas Local Government Code 262.024, due to safety of the residents of the county and unforeseen damage to public property.

That law allows the county to make a purchase or rental without seeking competitive bids either through advertising in the newspaper or on the government buy board if public health and safety or public property damage is imminent. This will allow the county to pay for the scaffolding and any related charges, Auditor Becky Weston said.

Maintenance employee Brian Kloesel asked the court if they still wanted to have Cangelosi Stone Fabrication come perform test cuts on the portion of the building closest to the neighboring property.

“I think if we end up cutting into that building, that could affect any grants that we could get,” Davis replied.

Commissioners agreed to hold off on any other repair work other than installing the scaffolding at this time.