The Clinton County Commissioners and the Clinton County Council both approved an emergency fix at the Clinton County Courthouse Friday afternoon.
‘We approved putting a new chiller in the courthouse,” said Commissioners President Jordan Brewer. “Our current one (chillers) has many, many band aids on it. Last Friday, the two compressors finally fell apart and stopped working. At that point, none of the compressors were working and there are three.”
Brewer said he received two quotes for a temporary fix — $105,000 from Johnson Controls and $92,000 from Envoy. They elected to accept the bid from Envoy. Brewer added the temporary unit is good until November, which is one more month that the one from Johnson Controls.
“We’re going to put a temporary chiller until the new one gets here around the first of December,” said Brewer. “We could do that or shut the courthouse down which I didn’t think was a very good option for the county.”
Brewer added the temporary replacement will take a week to 10 days to install. In the meantime, they managed to get one of the chillers to work which is keeping the Courthouse at a bearable temperature. However, the temperature is going to reach in the upper 80s to low 90s early next week.
The Commissioners also dealt with one other issue Friday. That is what to do with Stephanie Harshbarger, who won the primary race for Clinton County Clerk and is on the ballot in the November general election.
“There is a statute that does not allow employees who work in the courts to run for public office while staying employed in the courts,” said Brewer. “It came about towards the end of March. She has been on unpaid leave since that time.”
Brewer talked with Judge Brad Mohler and County Council President Alan Dunn to come out with a solution.
“Since that money has been budgeted and is available, we’ve worked with Judge Mohler and President Dunn to create a temporary position for the Commissioner’s office where she can work for us and float to other offices in the Courthouse to do other things as needed,” said Brewer.