Courthouse parking lot closed

By Melinda L. Lucas

Work finally began Saturday on the long-awaited rebuilding of the parking lot at the Shackelford County Courthouse, with plans to be finished in the next three weeks.

In the meantime, county employees and visitors to various Courthouse offices will need to park on the street and enter through either the north door facing South 2nd St. where the handicap ramp is located or the east door off Walnut St.

County judge Robert Skelton said this week that the west door is kept locked for security reasons.

“Someone could go through the west door, enter the clerk’s office, and no one would see them come or go,” said Skelton, who added that he hopes the temporary parking lot closure will not cause too many inconveniences for local residents.

Chris Ary of CM3 Services, who is heading up the construction, plans to be finished in three weeks, if there are no delays.

“We were trying to get the parking lot completed by Oct. 24, the beginning of early voting,” said Skelton. “However, a jury trial in September delayed the start by five days, so I am not sure if that will happen or not. Chris throught three weeks would be enough to complete the job.”

The contractor plans to lower the grade, providing better drainage, and rebuild the two entrances. He will utilize the original curbs, which were uncovered during the demolition.

The cost of the project is about $117,000, with commissioners taking responsibility for demo and removal of the old asphalt.

The county has been planning the parking lot revision for several years, but budget constraints put the project on the back burner. Loosened guidelines for use of Federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act funding brought the plans back to the forefront a few months ago, although commissioners decided that they could forego the cost of an engineer and rely on their own expertise and that of the contractor to design the parking lot.