Jackson County to tap contingency funds to pay for repairs to foundation of Independence courthouse

By MATT CAMPBELL The Kansas City Star

Jackson County will tap its contingency fund for $530,000 or more to make urgent foundation repairs to the historic Truman Courthouse in Independence.

County Executive Mike Sanders said Friday that the county would seek to replace that money, possibly by grabbing a piece of the federal economic stimulus package. But in declaring an emergency, Sanders said action must be taken quickly.

The courthouse on the Independence Square, last remodeled in 1933 on a foundation from the early 19th century, is on the National Register of Historic Places. But it is being undermined by water leaks below ground dating to an urban renewal project in 1972 that raised the dirt around the building and encircled it with retaining walls.

“Those walls, engineers have described, have captured every bit of rainfall that has dropped in the last 35 years just like the walls of a bathtub,” Sanders said. “With every rain, with every freeze, we’ve had to watch that slow infiltration of water quietly chip away at the very foundation, the very structures that keep this courthouse standing.”

The county has already set aside $270,000 for the repairs that engineers estimate could cost $800,000. A request for bids will be issued Monday.

The work will involve removing the retaining walls, excavating the dirt and returning the grounds around the courthouse to the way they appeared when Harry S. Truman worked in the building as presiding county judge. Repairs will be made to the foundation.

The project also will create 70 or more additional parking spaces on the square.

Chuck Foudree, co-chairman of a restoration steering committee, said the statue of Truman on the east side of the courthouse would remain where it is.

The 1972 work removed a slope that drew water away from the courthouse. An evaluation last fall by CEO Structural Engineers found that rainwater within about 50 feet of the building flowed toward the foundation rather than away from it.

Jackson County building maintenance official Todd Neaves on Friday pointed to a particularly bad breach in the foundation on the south side of the courthouse basement.

“It’s like a waterfall here,” he said of heavy rains.

Water can accumulate as much as two inches deep and cover two-thirds of the basement floor. There is no drainage system or sump pump to remove the water. Neaves said the situation had worsened over the nine years that he had been monitoring it.

There also is water damage on the first level of the courthouse, where crumbling plaster and corroding ironwork can be seen near the floor. And a wooden floor joist in the basement is nearly rotted through.

“The longer this problem is allowed to occur, the greater the chances for a costly failure to occur,” stated a county memorandum in July.

State law mandates that Jackson County set aside a contingency fund for emergencies, which in 2008 was budgeted at $2.4 million. County Counselor Mark Jones issued an opinion in September that using some of that money for courthouse repairs would be permissible because it fell under the category of “unforeseen emergencies.”

Sanders said the money would have to be replaced by the end of the year. He said the county would seek a federal earmark as well as money from the stimulus package and private dollars for the immediate repairs as well as others in the future.

Republican state Rep. Gary Dusenberg of Blue Springs and Democratic state Sen. Victor Callahan of Independence said Thursday they would try to reinstate $500,000 in state money for the project that was stricken last summer by Gov. Matt Blunt.

The foundation work is the second phase in a larger project. The first phase, funded jointly by the county and state, included a new roof and windows, tuck-pointing of the exterior brick, and repairs to the clock and cupola.

The third phase at some point will involve interior renovations and could cost $8 million or more.

The building currently houses archives of the Jackson County Historical Society. The goal after renovation is to concentrate tourism-related services in the courthouse.