St. Joseph County’s County-City Building and its downtown courthouses will remain closed for at least a second day on Wednesday, as technicians work to fix heating and plumbing emergencies caused by the frigid cold.
County officials could soon announce some major investments in the buildings.
The county late Monday night announced that Courthouse 3 would close Tuesday because a pipe burst and flooded the lobby. On Tuesday morning they announced the County-City Building also would close Tuesday because the heat had gone out.
County Commissioners President Carl Baxmeyer says work remains on the County-City Building’s heating system, which pushes out heat to the courthouses. Thursday’s prognosis remained uncertain.
Baxmeyer says he could foresee a scenario where the County-City Building re-opens Thursday but the courthouses remain closed because of insufficient heat. But officials will make that call Wednesday afternoon.
The County-City Building was built in 1971. The city of South Bend plans to move out next year.
Baxmeyer says in the next week or two he expects to release the results of a consultant's feasibility condition study the county commissioned last year.
"It shows we have a need for significant investment," Baxmeyer says of the soon-to-be-released study. "You sit in my office and you can hear the wind whistling because the windows are shot, the insulation is shot, and so we're losing more energy than when the building was newer and those systems were in better shape."
