Grant aids Callway County Courthouse restoration

Ironwork at the Callaway County Courthouse will receive restoration work beginning Oct. 10.
Ironwork at the Callaway County Courthouse will receive restoration work beginning Oct. 10.

Beginning Oct. 10, the Callaway County Courthouse will undergo a facade-lift. A number of decorative cast-iron panels and grids located on the exterior of the building need repairs for corrosion and wear.

"There's some serious deep pits in some of them that will need light repair work," said Gary Jungermann, Callaway County presiding commissioner.

Most of the cast-iron pieces in need of repair - four panels around the north enterance, one near the south and panels at 32 of the building's 52 windows - will only need a scrub with a wire brush to remove corrosion and then a repainting with corrosion-inhibiting primer.

Past courthouse restoration projects, such as repairs to the brickwork completed in 2009, were carried out using county funds, Jungermann said.

In 2004, the courthouse became a national historic place when Fulton's historic downtown district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

That made it eligible for grants from the Historic Preservation Revolving Fund. Established in 1979, the fund is managed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' State Historic Preservation Office.

When the commissioners began considering how to fund the project, the Revolving Fund came up. In March, Jungermann applied for a grant.

"I wouldn't say (the project) wouldn't have been done; we'd have tried to get it done anyway, but it's nice to be able to get the federal funds back to the county," he said.

The DNR replied by April, awarding an 70/30 matching grant. The fund would contribute $13,6500, while the county would have to chip in $5,850 for a total of $19,500.

The county's money will be drawn from the county's general revenue, Jungermann said.

"I got the notification that we got the grant back, probably, in April," Jungermann said. "And then, because it takes forever to get the paperwork for them to get things going, we didn't finally sign these things until July."

After acquiring the funds, the County Commission set about taking bids in order to find a contractor.

"We've been in the process of figuring it out, but some of the bids have been horrendous," Jungermann said.

Edler Construction, located in Mokane, came forward with a reasonable bid and was given the contract. After that, repairs needed to wait until the air temperature cooled and humidity dropped.

"Because of the paint we have to use through the historic grant, it's really hard to do exterior painting during the summer," Jungermann said. "The paint doesn't adhere too well, it dries too fast, leaves a lot of brushmarks. We had to wait for the humidity level to reduce."

After repairs go underway on Oct. 10, they should take no longer than two weeks to complete, weather permitting.

Behind the scenes, there will be extensive documentation to ensure the project meets the terms laid out in the grant. The grant specifies what types of paint and filler can be used, and requires Callaway County to document the project with photographs and written descriptions at its beginning, halfway point and end.

"It's a lot of paperwork anymore," Jungermann said.

The commissioners aren't planning further repairs to the building in the immediate future, though Jungermann would like to see the entryway redone and "brought back to life again" eventually. With an unusually wet summer leaving roads in need of repair throughout the county, the commissioners have had more pressing matters to address.

However, the next courthouse project will likely also draw on federal grant funds.

"It's a grant we can continually apply for in the future other things," Jungermann said.