Crumbling columns may be an expensive problem

Mother Nature and Father Time have combined forces over the last 100-plus years to create what may prove to be an expensive problem for the Ogle County Board.

During renovations on the 119-year-old courthouse, construction workers discovered that some of the decorative sandstone columns on the east side of the building are crumbling.

Jim Dobyns, from Ringland Johnson Construction, the Cherry Valley firm in charge of the courthouse project, told the Long Range Planning Committee last week that at least 13 of the 17 columns on the building’s east side have been damaged by water seeping into cracks in the sandstone over the decades and freezing and thawing.

Dobyns said March 2 that the weathering has crumbled the sandstone, allowing water to leak into the building.

A greater concern, however, is that chunks of sandstone could fall from the columns, possibly injuring a passerby, he said.

Dobyns said a representative from a firm that works with sandstone was assessing the problem.

He said he has asked for two estimates — one to completely restore the columns and the other to stabilize them, halting further deterioration.

“It’s going to be expensive,” he said.

No cost estimates were available yet on Tuesday, county administrator Meggon McKinley said.

“The initial number they came up with was to replace them, but it was way high so they didn’t even give us that,” she said. “They’re putting together some numbers to secure the columns. I expect them to present those at the next Long Range Planning meeting the first week of April.”

Seventeen decorative columns grace the east side of the courthouse.

Six are on each side of the entrance, with five more between the windows above the entry doors.

Two more columns frame the doorway on the west side.

The damaged columns are one of a handful of construction surprises uncovered as the courthouse renovation, begun last summer, has progressed.

A construction contingency fund of more than $400,000 was built into the renovation budget to cover unexpected costs. McKinley said March 2 that about 75 percent of the contingency has been spent.

The courthouse renovation is expected to cost $7.5 million, including construction, furnishings, design costs, testing costs, rent for the Watt Building, Mt. Morris, where county offices have been located during the project, moving costs, and other related expenses.