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Has the aging Baraga County Courthouse outlived its usefulness?
That question spurred considerable discussion at Monday night’s Baraga County Board of Commissioners meeting. It was posed by commissioner Bill Menge…
County employees attending the meeting said that mold has reappeared in the basement, a decade after an expensive mitigation project. They pointed out safety issues, and other deteriorating features.
They also noted that they could work more efficiently if all the departments could reunite in one building. Several administrative departments, including the clerk/registers office, moved to the former L’Anse Pharmacy building in downtown L’Anse in 2012, because there was no longer room for them in the courthouse.
That move came after voters in 2011 turned down a proposal to relocate county operations to the former Baraga County Memorial Hospital. That building was subsequently taken over by Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College.
Commissioners expressed concern that the 137-year-old building will need considerable investment within the next few years to remain viable, and will continue to require high-cost maintenance indefinitely.
They voted to issue a request for proposals for a feasibility study that would address potential renovations to the existing building, along with the potential for constructing a new facility.
