Harrison County Courthouse to get new elevators around end of year
On Wednesday morning, the Harrison County Commission approved a bid from Schindler Elevator for $805,000 with the elevators set to be working at full capacity around the end of the year.
Although it's been a problem on and off for years, the two main elevators went out of service a few weeks ago and caused the courthouse to rearrange its setup.
Officials are also pursuing a state grant to help cover the cost of these repairs, which in total is expected to be closer to a million dollars, including also hiring an engineer, according to Commissioner David Hinkle.
The grant is for $500,000 from the 2026 State Development Grant which operates through the WV Department of Arts, Culture, and History. The building qualifies for this grant due to its historical significance.
'Most of these grants again, are 50-50, so potentially we could be looking at 700,000 out of our pocket, so it's a big expenditure for the county, want to make sure that it's done right this time,' Hinkle said. 'We get 500, we have to put in 500. […] We know we have to spend at least 700,000 as it is minimum, so if it's over a million, they're only going to cover 500,000 and we have to cover the rest.'
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During the commission meeting, Hinkle and other officials said the bids from the different elevator companies were all similar, with Schindler's saying that it would take 23 weeks to make the parts for the elevator, and 15-20 weeks to install an elevator.
There are a total of three elevators at the courthouse, but one of them is a freight elevator that is working just fine and is used only to transport prisoners, according to Hinkle. The other two elevators in the main part of the building will be the ones getting their systems replaced, but the cabs will remain the same, according to Hinkle.
'We're going to go ahead and rebuild the head equipment on one elevator to try and get it back in operation,' Hinkle said.
During an interview with 12 News, Hinkle said this might inspire a look into permanent restructuring of the courthouse, like changing probation from the sixth floor to the ground floor.
'Even when we replace these, it just makes more sense to put something like that on the ground floor and just not use the elevators as much and just look at a better flow through the building,' Hinkle said.
Hinkle said some of the next things on the agenda are to look to move things like court magistrates and potentially family court, to the building across the courthouse where the county commission meets.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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