CLAREMORE —
Members of the Rogers County Courthouse Recommendation Committee met Friday afternoon for a complete tour of the new courthouse, which Flintco Construction reports will open sometime in early April.
A committee meeting was held beforehand to approve the future site’s address as 200 S. Lynn Riggs Blvd., as well as announce purchase of the new courtroom pews.
The $19 million project handled by Tulsa Companies BKL Inc. and Flintco Construction is set to be completed by the end of February before cleaning and moving begins. The current courthouse will be torn down to provide parking.
The new courthouse is a result of a December 2009 election in which 75 percent of county voters approved a 0.167 percent sales tax extension.
Construction plans began when Associate District Judge Sheila Condren came up with the idea, and alongside other community members, formed a committee to recommend that county commissioners put the issue on the ballot, in which they agreed.
“The fact that the majority of voters agreed to the tax extension, I think speaks volume of our citizens — that we care about our community,” Condren said.
Condren said the ballot provided a way to extend taxes coming off of the jail to help pay for construction of the new E-911 Center and courthouse.
Use Tax was going to the Rogers County Industrial Development Authority and had grown from $100,000 a year 10 years ago to nearly $1 million a year, said Condren.
“All that we needed was about $200,000 each year in a revenue stream so we convinced the commissioners that this was a good source to go to,” she said. “Overall this has been a very smooth process thanks in large part to Rogers County for being so supportive.”
As a thank you to the citizens of Rogers County, a bronze plaque from the committee will be placed in the finished courthouse.
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