Terry County Judge Butch Wagner said this week that the renovation of the Terry County Courthouse is going as planned.

The $3.4 million project began several weeks ago, forcing the tenants to new locations. Most of the courthouse offices were moved to the former Bayless Jewelers building which was purchased by the county and renamed the Terry County Annex. The County and District Clerks’ offices were moved to the former American Legion Building which was donated to the county.

“Right now they’re finishing up the last bit of demolition,” Wagner said. “From there they will go back in and start putting up walls and new air conditioning ducts and plumbing lines.”

Wagner said that when the workers were ripping up carpet inside the district courtroom they discovered a beautiful marble floor that was installed when the courthouse was built in 1925.

“I’m sure the reason the floor was covered up was for sound,” the judge said. “We’re going to restore the floor, but they’re going to put up some soundproof material on the south wall and put up acoustic ceiling tile to help knock down some of the sound.”

County Clerk Kim Carter said her office is operating smoothly in its new digs.

“It’s going well for us since we’re not as inundated with landmen as we have been,” she said. “Right now we have enough space to accommodate those who want to view the records. In fact, we have more viewing stations here than we did at the courthouse.”

Carter said the County Clerk’s Office is in a transition period where more and more documents are being downloaded where they can be viewed online.

Tax Assessor-Collector Rexann Turrentine said the displaced courthouse tenants housed in the Annex is dealing with the situation in a positive manner.

“We’re doing well. It’s going surprisingly well,” she said. “We all gave up some space and privacy, but everybody is willing to sacrifice to make it all work. The customers all seem to be OK with it as well.

“I think the worst thing about it is that there are still some customers who have a hard time finding us. However, they all know that this (renovation) was something that really needed to be done. It had been a long time coming and there were so many issues that were just going to get worse if they were left alone.”

Turrentine said that county employees had to suffer through times with no air conditioning in the dead of summer while in the winter the heater would go out.

Wagner recently led a group of county employees on a tour of the courthouse so they could see what had been done so far, and Turrentine said the reaction was positive.

“We got to see some of the things they were fixing, and that made us feel better,” she said. “Right now we’re just making do and we know it’s not a permanent solution. Everybody has a really good working relationship and we’re just making the best of it.”