The Cole County Commission could decide next week on what to do with space left at the old county jail and sheriff's house behind the county courthouse.
One plan calls for the remodeled sallyport to be left on the ground floor and the three floors above it torn down and rebuilt.
Officials with Architects Alliance told commissioners Wednesday that this plan would cost approximately $1.6 million. There would be 4700 square feet of court/office space available with this plan and 700 square feet for a lobby.
The other plan would keep the existing shell of the jail and sheriff's house in place, fix the three floors above the sallyport and develop a plan to access each floor since the floors in the old jail do not align with the courthouse.
This plan would cost approximately $775,000 and offers 3300 square feet of court/office space and 600 square feet for a lobby.
The improvement work would not jeopardize the courthouse.
Commissioners seemed to like the plan to tear down the buildings.
"It allows us more freedom in designing areas for our office needs," said Presiding Commissioner Marc Ellinger.
"I had been leaning toward the plan to work in the old jail because of costs, but I do like the other plan because of how much space we could get with it," Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Hoelscher said.
"We haven't spent money on new personnel these past few years, but eventually that's going to change," said Western District Commissioner Kris Scheperle.
It could take 10-12 months to complete the plan to tear down the old buildings and six months to complete the plan working within the current structures.
Both plans would take about three months to design and one month to complete the bid process.
All this comes as the commission tries to develop a master plan for how best to use county building space for the next five to 20 years.
Commissioners have agreed they'd like to move the county assessor and the public defender's offices out of the Carnegie Building and either use it for storage or try and get rid of it. Officials with the Missouri River Regional Library have indicated they may be interested in the building.
To pay for the work, commissioners are looking at using money from county reserves.
As of Wednesday, the county has $7 million in its reserve fund.
Once the plan is selected, then commissioners will go over with officeholders what space needs they have and if they should be moved to another location.