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(TC GORDON | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Olney's courthouse will be undergoing a large renovation project and the city recently informed Young County of its termination of lease between the two entities. The county will likely receive a new lease before the start of the next fiscal year.
The city of Olney recently informed Young County of a decision to terminate the current lease the city maintains with the county for use of space in Olney’s courthouse building.
At a commissioners court meeting Monday, Sept. 30, the county received more information about the termination of their lease with the city of Olney for space in the sub-courthouse building at 117 S. Grand Suite B.
Since November 2009, Young County and the city of Olney have had a lease agreement for the county to maintain certain offices in the sub-courthouse building. With the city of Olney making the decision to conduct major renovations on the building, the county was informed that the lease would be terminated Tuesday, Dec. 31.
County offices that have locations in the sub-courthouse building are the tax assessor-collector, justice of the peace Pct. 3, and adult and juvenile probation.
As things currently stand, there has been no indication that these offices will need to move or that services will be affected.
Due to the fact that Young County has already completed its budget for fiscal year 2025, the county will likely receive a contract that will last until the end of the fiscal year. The city of Olney and Young County can then prepare a new contract that will coincide with the new fiscal year which begins Oct. 1, 2025.
“(The city of Olney) understands that we've already done our budget,” Young County Judge Win Graham said. “So I think they're going to offer us a nine month contract at the current rate to get us to Sept. 30. …They’re going to do quite a bit of work in there.”
Director of Olney’s Economic Development Corporation Tom Parker spoke with the commissioners at their meeting and shared some details regarding why the city of Olney is deciding to take on this project.
“The city is assigning that asset to the EDC, and we're going to take it on as part of the project we started,” Parker said. “Now, it's about six weeks ago we started the downtown facade revitalization project, and this (building) just happens to sit in that footprint. …This building has really been, by no short measure, neglected and not really kept up to the splendor that it should be as a city and a county facility.”
Parker said many different aspects of the building are outdated and in need of refurbishment and improvement. This includes entrances to the building, windows, central heat and air and more.
With notice given, Parker said the EDC hopes to get renovations started by the end of October as it will be a long project due to the number of items that need to be addressed.
“We're ready to hit the ground running as soon as the city gets it assigned over to us. We hope everything will be here, be in our court by the end of the month,” Parker said. “EDC has cash reserves enough to get it started. We will be coming back to (the county) on an increase to the rate.”
The refurbishment of this building may take an even longer amount of time depending on long-term goals the city has in store. Parker mentioned the possibility of putting in an elevator and moving certain offices around in the building. But these initial improvements are to get the building as updated as possible.
