Assessment report expected

An assessment report related to the courts building at the St. Joseph County Courthouse is expected to be issued this week.

During Friday’s committee of the whole meeting, county administrator Patrick Yoder said officials from Benton Harbor-based Pearson Construction made a thorough inspection of the courts building last week.

Yoder said the group spent more than two hours inspecting the facility and reviewing its blueprints in order to determine whether a major overhaul is in order or a new courts building altogether is a better option.

Details of the report are expected to be reviewed by county officials before their Aug. 6 board meeting.

The 40-year-old courts building, attached to the south end of the historic courthouse, houses about 50 employees and accommodates all courtrooms, chambers for the county’s four judges, their administrative offices, and receiving area for deliveries of office supplies as well as jail inmates appearing in court.

County officials have eyed land currently vacant at the south end of Centreville’s industrial park as a potential site for a new courts building and possibly a new animal-control facility, Yoder said.