MEDINA, Ohio -- For the past eight months, the citizens group Save Your Courthouse Committee has conducted an initiative petition opposing the planned demolition and rebuilding of a portion of the Medina County Courthouse.
According to its Facebook page, the group’s goal is to put the joint courthouse project of the City of Medina and Medina County on the Nov. 3 ballot, with the belief that residents “have the right to vote on such major community projects.”
The effort to collect the required 983 signatures from registered voters living within the Medina city limits concludes Wednesday (June 22). Committee member Pat Walker said the group has enough signatures for the issue to be placed on the ballot, but that every signature is important.
“All we are about is allowing people the ability to vote on the project,” Walker said. “And the more (signatures) the better.”
Walker said the committee began collecting signatures last year, but at that time had only six days before the next filing deadline. The effort began again in earnest this past November.
The Save Your Courthouse petition states: “Without a majority vote of the qualified electors who are residents of the City of Medina, Ohio, the city shall not: authorize, appropriate or spend any funds for, or use any city resources to carry out, or facilitate carrying out, any demolition or construction activity (whether internal or external) at the Medina County Courthouse or any structure located on the east side of the Medina Public Square including, but not limited to, 72 through 99 Public Square, Medina, Ohio. This restriction shall have the effect of law and shall be effective for a period of five years.”
With or without the city
County officials have indicated that the estimated $40 million project is needed to both streamline the courthouse and make it safer. The plan currently includes moving the Medina Municipal Court into the new county courthouse building, which will replace the 1969 Common Pleas Courthouse. The older, historic courthouse building on the northeast corner of Public Square and East Liberty Street would not be torn down.
The new building, as proposed, will include shared hallways, restrooms, elevators, security entrance, parking and meeting rooms between the Common Pleas and Medina Municipal courts.
During a March Medina City Council meeting, Medina Mayor Dennis Hanwell said that the petition initiative, even if successful, is unlikely to stop the courthouse renovations.
The mayor said that county officials plan to move ahead with the removal of the Common Pleas Courthouse with or without the city’s involvement. Preventing the city from participating in the project, Hanwell said, could cost Medina residents in both the short and long term, with two new courthouses being built within blocks of one another and the opportunity for shared resources gone.
Walker, meanwhile, maintains that the goal of the signature petition is merely to put that issue before voters.
“You can always make things better, but you have to balance the need against the cost and peoples’ feelings of how you are getting that money,” she said.
The Save Your Courthouse Committee has estimated the project to cost taxpayers upward of $60 million -- including $20 million in interest over 30 years, should the county seek funding through $30 million in bonds, as has been proposed.
Walker said it is imperative to seek voter approval for such a capital project.
“And we have gotten signatures from Republicans, Democrats, Independents; this is a very bipartisan effort,” she said.
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