Presentation of Courthouse Plans Met with Embarrassing Public Reaction

The latest plans for the proposed courthouse project were presented to the public for commentary at yesterday’s Board of Supervisors meeting in Charlotte County. The legal dispute between Circuit Court Judge Joel C. Cunningham and the Charlotte County Board of Supervisors over security issues and other upgrades to the historic courthouse facility has been ongoing. Judging from the level of discontent that came from public commentary at yesterday’s meeting, after nearly four years and several hundred thousand dollars in fees and expenses paid by taxpayers already, the biggest issue that the Board of Supervisors now has to deal with has shifted from the threat of legal action in the form of ruling against the county to the continued dissenting opinion of a group of citizens that are mainly concerned with the preservation of the historical integrity of the courthouse building and square. Considering that sets of finished plans drawn for proposals of this complexity easily carry a price tag that runs into thousands of dollars, it is obvious that Charlotte County is now spending money it does not have just trying to appease the desire of a few to save the past. The current proposal meets the level of functionality required by the law, and it also manages to preserve the old courthouse.

The latest designs drawn and submitted by Andrew Moore of Glave & Holmes Architectural firm provides for a stand-alone courthouse and connected administrative offices that for all intents and purposes, closely resemble Option A of the proposed designs that were presented in October of 2014 (see pictures page A7).

The Board of Supervisors and architect Andrew Moore did their best to answer the questions that were asked of them regarding the reasoning behind the choices that were made in this design proposal; however, the level of decorum deteriorated steadily as Kathy Liston, who described herself as “speaking for everyone present,” repeatedly interrupted to ask the same questions over and over again. The largest points of contention were the location of the complex and the exterior design of the building. She asked numerous times for a new set of plans to be drawn in the new location. According to sources, this would come about only at a considerable cost to the county, again, for a new set of plans. She seemed angered over the proceedings, an impression that most of the students from Mr. Noel’s political science class visiting from Randolph-Henry High School voiced quietly on more than one occasion during the meeting. Actually, it is important to note that the most appropriate, insightful and constructive question asked during the entire meeting regarding the functionality versus aesthetics of the proposed courthouse complex came from one of the students in Mr. Noel’s class. Mrs. Liston seemed to, for a period of time, target Supervisor Gary Walker, even going so far as to berate him for not answering her questions or weighing in on the discussion. It was clear that the intended constructiveness of the meeting was lost at that point. The underlying hope was that the visiting students were able to glean some positive, practical experience from the public proceedings that became an outright embarrassment. Mr. Walker had no input during the public participation portion of the meeting, but waited his turn to speak after. When he did speak, it was to assure all present that everyone on the Board had acted in the collective best interest of the county’s residents. He also made it very clear that he did not like his integrity held in question.

In other news of the meeting, Charlotte County is at long last going to be able to synchronize all of its emergency communications with the purchase of a new, state of the art communications system. Fire, Rescue, and Law Enforcement alike will all be available to each other on the same band or frequency after the system is put in place.