Multipurpose room to help with courthouse space needs

(Sentinel photo by Amy Erickson) Lonnie Bohlke, courthouse maintenance employee, is working on renovations in the former driver's license room at the Plymouth County Courthouse. The raised floor and horseshoe-shaped desk are gone to allow more uses of the new multipurpose room.

The former driver's license room in the lower level of the Plymouth County Courthouse is getting a facelift.

Gone is the raised floor -- reminiscent of the days when the board of supervisors met in that room -- along with the horseshoe shaped desk.

New carpeting will soon replace the orange and brown of years past while updated lights and ceiling tiles will add to the look.

"All the work is being done by the courthouse maintenance employee," said Auditor Stacey Feldman, referring to Lonnie Bohlke.

Material costs for the renovation are expected to be about $10,000, which is in this year's courthouse building repairs and updates line item in the county's general fund, Feldman said.

Remodeling the driver's license room is the next step in the project to help solve the county's space needs problem at the courthouse, she said.

Construction of the courthouse annex building, where the county's driver's license department moved to, was also part of that space needs project.

The remodeled multipurpose room will have new countertops, cupboards, a sink, a microwave and a refrigerator, Feldman said.

"Those (appliances) are currently in the courthouse and will be moved into the multipurpose room," she said.

The room will be available for a variety of uses including an employee break room, a conference room and a meeting room for various county departments.

"It can easily hold 50 people," Feldman said. "We already have tables and chairs that can be used in there."

Prior to and since the driver's license department moved out, zoning commission, board of adjustment and human resource meetings and others have been held in that room.

"We've used it but it's just not as convenient because the room had two levels," Feldman said, of the raised floor that covered half the room.

Jessica Trobaugh, the county's wellness co-coordinator, held a similar view noting that removing the raised floor will make the multipurpose room more user friendly.

"It will just be nice to have everybody on one level," she said. "It will be better equipped for more people to be present and actively participate."

Having a refrigerator, microwave and sink in the room will also be nice when it comes to employee lunch meetings, Trobaugh said.

"Sometimes we have everybody bring an ingredient for a salad or we have a potluck," she said. "Now we'll be able to keep everything in one location and not have to bring it in from other rooms."

The multipurpose room can also be used as a conference room, which will be beneficial because the other conference room on the second floor of the courthouse is very small, Feldman said.

"This will be the largest open meeting space available in the courthouse," she said of the new multipurpose room. "It will be open to whoever needs it."

Feldman said the location of the room in the lower level of the courthouse is a good one because it's easily accessible for the public.

"You come in that north door, go right down the ramp and it's right there," she said.

Jim Henrich, chairman of the county board of supervisors, said he, too, thinks renovations in the former driver's license room will make it more versatile.

"I just think it could be used for a lot of different things and I think it will be used," Henrich said.

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Multipurpose room to help with courthouse space needs