Longstanding issues with the elevator at Warren County Courthouse could be a thing of the past. 

The county Building and Grounds Committee met to consider a suggestion by County Executive Jimmy Haley that they follow the city of McMinnville’s example and “piggyback” on a municipal bid with KONE for $165,000 to replace the county’s elevator.

Piggybacking is when a public entity uses an existing contract to acquire the same commodities or services at the same price as another public entity contract. 

“We have to replace the elevator,” said Haley. “If we don’t have access to the second floor of the courthouse, we can’t have court. So, you may as well shut the building down because it’s not ADA accessible.”

The same concerns were expressed in December of 2019 and again in February of this year. 

“The elevator has been patched up,” said Haley. “It’s using hydraulic fluid, like your gasoline engine in your vehicle does. We can’t keep hydraulic fluid in it to the level where it does break down pretty regularly. Then, that’s another service call. The inspector said we need to put it in the budget to replace the elevator.”

Warren County government received $1 million from the Governor’s Local Support Grants. The state distributed $200 million to city and county governments to assist them financially during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“To me, this elevator would be a good use of some of that money,” said Haley. 

Building and Grounds Committee members voiced a desire to “piggyback” on the city of McMinnville’s bid with KONE for $165,000 to replace the courthouse elevator and use monies from the state to pay for it.

The measure will be sent to the county’s finance committees for consideration.