Missoula County Courthouse to unveil first-floor renovations

The venerable Missoula County Courthouse has been a mess for months now.

Entire rooms are walled off by plastic sheeting, dust coats the floors and the sound of jackhammers fills the air.

Thats about to change.

Although the entire courthouse renovation will take at least three more years, the county will unveil the shiny new first-floor offices in the courthouse annex as of May 1 or thereabouts.

That means people renewing vehicle registrations, conducting land transactions or asking questions about voter registration wont have to traipse past construction zones looking for those offices, or await service in makeshift temporary quarters.

The staff and the public have been very patient, said Missoula County Commissioner Jean Curtiss. So have judges, whose solemn court proceedings often are interrupted by banging and drilling, said Dale Bickell, the countys chief administrative officer.

Our treasurers staff says theyve named 17 different construction noises, Bickell said.

For the next few weeks, people using the courthouse annex can peek through previously sealed-off doorways and watch the new Motor Vehicle Division, Clerk and Recorders Office, Elections Office and Treasurers Office take shape.

Those are among the busiest in the courthouse. Theyll be on the first floor of the annex, to the north of the original courthouse easy in, easy out.

These offices as well as the rest of the courthouse and annex, once renovations are complete will comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, said Paul Filicetti of A&E Architects, the projects architect. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification also is being sought, he said. Among other things, although the renovated courthouse will have more plumbing fixtures than before, it will use less water, he said.

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Missoula County Courthouse to unveil first-floor renovations