Holmes commissioners aim to finish courthouse light project this year
As picturesque as the Holmes County Courthouse is during the day, the Holmes County Commissioners are hoping the new lighting that will be installed later this year will make it an even more inviting photograph opportunity for visitors at nighttime.
Someday the Holmes County Courthouse will be bathed in light that portrays its intricate features.
That day can’t come soon enough for the Holmes County Commissioners, which met Monday, May 12 with Doug Hooper, president of MidState, which did the work on the courthouse last year, and Dean Anderson of BluShift.
The purpose was to discuss how to best proceed with the lighting project.
The county made a heavy investment in procuring KLH Engineers of Cincinnati, which created the specs for the upcoming lighting project for the courthouse clock tower. Those plans are complete, and now the commissioners are hoping to find the best way to progress through the process that includes several steps.
However, that project began two years ago, and progress has been slow.
“This has been an ongoing thing, and it’s driving me nuts to get lights on that thing,” Commissioner Chair Joe Miller said. “Susan (Haun, commissioner clerk) has worked very hard on this.”
After paying more than $40,000 for the blueprints from KLH Engineering, the county is now pursuing purchasing the lights, having MidState put in the copper brackets on the outside of the courthouse that will house the lights, finding a company to do the electrical work and install the wiring on the interior of the courthouse tower, and then having BluShift coordinate the settings that will allow Haun to control the lights.
Currently, the commissioners said they are looking at around $95,000 for the physical lights — a number that could lessen depending on from where they purchase the lights — and $68,000 for the bracket placement from MidState.
Hooper said his company has all the plans as to where the brackets need placed, but the brackets must be specially designed out of copper. The brackets will be soldered on and mechanically attached to the tower to create a watertight connection.
“Because of the electrical attachments, we are going to have to have penetrations through the tower itself, so we will have to make a weather head for them to run the electrical through that,” Hooper said. “But we will have the lights mounted. We don’t need an electrician to figure that out. All we need them to do is figure out when a wire comes in, figure out where the circuit needs to go.”
Miller said no electricians they have spoken with want anything to do with crawling around on the exterior of the courthouse.
“That’s why the ball got dropped earlier. Nobody wanted anything to do with that,” Miller said.
Hooper’s team has plenty of experience navigating the high and steep exterior of the courthouse tower, which has been a problem for the commissioners because they can’t find a local electrical company willing to do that work, hence the need to employ MidState to do some of the attachment electrical work on the exterior.
“We can work with whomever you have for the lighting,” Hooper said. “There are access points at different locations, but if someone isn’t used to being on a ledge and walking around it, we can help them.”
He said they could place the brackets, but final appropriate adjustments might not be made until night when they can see exactly where the lights are shining.
Hooper also said the county needs to hire the electrician, adding the county should look around to find the best pricing for the specific lights needed for the project to keep costs down.
While they want to keep the brackets and lights as unobtrusive and visual as possible, Hooper said there will need to be some compromises made because there are areas where the lights are simply going to show up.
“We’ve been all over that tower, and we know where the lights can and can’t be mounted,” Hooper said.
Commissioner Dave Hall said it would be good to move forward on placing the brackets as soon as possible because they will be needed regardless of when the county can find an electrician to wire the project.
The commissioners said the budget for the project is a work in progress, and Miller said it is important to complete this project before cold weather arrives later this fall.
The commissioners also have made it well known that this project is important to the county and for the courthouse, which is a highly visible and well-photographed destination for visitors.
“This lighting project was part of the deal when we spent $1 million to repair the courthouse,” Miller said. “We want to really showcase this thing.”
“There’s a pride thing,” Hall said. “The people of Holmes County take great pride in this courthouse, and the nighttime views are just beautiful.”