Do nothing.
The Cole County Commission is scheduled on Wednesday to explore its options for the vacated county jail and sheriff's house, attached to the Monroe Street side of the downtown courthouse.
Those options are: demolish the structures; renovate the interiors for other purposes; do nothing.
We believe action is premature. In addition, we see no urgency or reason for haste.
Architects Alliance has been contracted by the county to determine whether the interior of the structures - vacated after completion of a new jail - could accommodate a large courtroom requested by the circuit judges.
Cole County Presiding Commissioner Marc Ellinger said demolishing the structures would permit construction of a 2,200-square-foot courtroom and gallery seating for 100.
Retaining the existing exterior and renovating the interior would accommodate a smaller courtroom, with the judge's chambers on the floor below.
Simultaneously, the county would like to rid itself of the Carnegie Building, which now houses the assessor's and public defenders' offices. County officials hope to locate the assessor's and collector's offices in close proximity to each other.
Therein lies the problem. County government has no comprehensive, long-range plan for its buildings and offices.
County government contains a range of functions: judicial, law enforcement and a variety of administrative offices. The county owns four buildings in the core area: courthouse, annex, Carnegie building, and new sheriff's department/jail.
Over the years, county commissions have shuffled offices to address short-term needs or as stopgap solutions. Absent a master plan, no overall blueprint exists.
The process, at best, is haphazard, but at least it has not resulted in the demolition of historic structures.
As we have said before, these structures - once they are destroyed - are gone forever.
County commissions for decades have made too many short-sighted, musical-chair decisions regarding location of offices.
We encourage this county commission to end that practice and begin the hard work of developing a comprehensive plan.