On May 4th 2016, the 128 year old Oscoda County Courthouse was destroyed by fire. The structure – built in 1888 for only $3,754.00 – was the oldest wooden courthouse still in use in the State of Michigan.
The loss has been a difficult blow, not just to the employees of the county, but to the entire community. However, thanks to a strong insurance policy and a lot of hard work, the county offices were quickly up and running again in a temporary facility. With that major hurdle crossed, the County Board of Commissioners sensed the time was right to start planning for the future, so they formed a “re-build committee” made up of 18 members selected from a cross section of leaders from across the county*. The process of planning for a new Courthouse in Oscoda County had officially begun!
One of the first steps of the committee was to choose an architect and they selected WTA Architects out of Saginaw. WTA then met with the various county & court departments to determine how much space each office needed, not only for today, but also into the foreseeable future. With this information in hand, the different rebuild options and their associated costs could be discussed. These options ranged from replacing only what was destroyed to merging nearly all of the county & court functions into a single facility. For many different reasons, the committee preferred the full consolidation option, but because the price of the building was also higher, insurance money would only cover a portion of the expenses. Some present at the meeting questioned whether the general public would be willing to approve the estimated 0.65 millage increase over 20 years that would be needed to build this option.
This webpage was created as a tool to help gage public sentiment with regard to rebuilding the Courthouse. Please take a few moments to voice any comments or concerns you may have about the rebuild process below.
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Additional Information About the Full Consolidation Option
The full consolidation option would include a new two story facility with approximately 12,000 square feet per floor. The first floor would accommodate the Treasurer, Clerk, Register of Deeds, Equalization, Friend of the Court and the Sheriff’s Department. The second floor would accommodate the Court Rooms and Court Offices along with the Prosecutors’ Offices. Consolidation would not mean that the existing Courthouse Annex Building would be abandoned. Current plans call for the Board of Commissioners, Information Technology, Emergency Management, Veteran Affairs, Housing/EDC, Animal Control, Michigan Department of Corrections & Michigan State Police to be housed in the Annex (minor renovations of that building would be necessary to accommodate these departments and to better utilize existing space). Relocating the Sheriff’s Department to the new facility and the State Police to the Annex would allow for the removal of those existing buildings to provide more green space and additional parking.
*Committee members:
- Jack Kischnick – Chair of Oscoda County Commissioners
- Larry Wilson – Vice-Chair of Oscoda County Commissioners
- Katherine Root – Judge, 23rd Courts
- Cassie Morse-Bills – Prosecutor, Oscoda County
- Kevin Grace – Oscoda County Sheriff
- Jeri Winton – Oscoda County Clerk & Register of Deeds
- Bill Kendall – Oscoda County Treasurer
- Brenda Moore – Executive Secretary, Oscoda County Commissioners
- Tim Jenks – Chair of Oscoda County Planning Commission
- Dave Yoder – Oscoda County Road Commission
- Tom Siegler – Oscoda County Road Commission
- Ann Galbraith – Oscoda County Chamber of Commerce
- Robert Hoffman – Mentor Township Zoning Administrator
- Gary Wyckoff – Mentor Township Supervisor
- Chris Neff – Clinton Township Supervisor
- Randy Booth – Big Creek Township Supervisor
- Warren Miller – Comins Township Supervisor
- Kurt Fogelsonger – WTA Architects