Preston County Commission shares update on courthouse remodeling project

KINGWOOD, W.Va. (WBOY) — During the Preston County Commission’s most recent meeting, it shared updates on the progress of a project that’s currently underway to remodel a portion of the Preston County Courthouse.

Preston County Administrator Nathan Raybeck told 12 News that this construction project will consist of four phases, and crews are hoping to have it completed by October of this year as they currently sit in phase two of the project.

“The big achievements that we’re gonna shoot for this week are rough electrical, as well as framing,” he said. “All the demolition is done on phase two, phase one has been completely finished except for one thing.”

Raybeck said that some of the doors that crews are expecting have been “waitlisted.” He stated that these doors tend to have a long lead time, so that’s the only thing that they’re still waiting for to be completely done with phase one of the project.

Phase two is expected to be complete by Aug. 15, which Raybeck said will keep them right on track for a mid-to-late-October finish for the entire project, which was mandated by the state legislature in order to accommodate a second judge at the courthouse by the new year.

“So a reconfiguration or remodeling of the second floor of the courthouse became necessary through legislative action,” said Raybeck. He said that the benefit of the project is that it will allow the county to try twice as many cases with the assistance of a second judge.

“Therefore, our case times will greatly diminish and the long hope is that our regional jail bill will go down, because we won’t be housing people as they await trial if we’re able to process through our cases quicker,” Raybeck added.

Raybeck also said that the construction team has done a really good job of keeping both the noise and dust levels down. However, he asked that anyone who has business to handle at the courthouse—especially on the second floor near the magistrate courts—be understanding of the fact that it is a construction zone.

“But other than that, we’re moving right on pace and it’s an earlier pace than we initially had,” said Raybeck. “Everything’s going according to plan and I’ve got my fingers crossed, hoping that we will be absolutely fine. But I appreciate all the support the community has given us so far.”

Preston County is required to be able to seat the new judge by Jan. 1, so crews will have the courthouse reconfiguration project completed with plenty of time if they remain on schedule. However, Raybeck said that the project could be delayed by change orders, which he said are changes that become necessary throughout the process that weren’t in the original plans.

“So you look at the paperwork, you look at the architectural designs and then you actually go in to implement them in the construction phase…,” said Raybeck. “And sometimes that can delay things a little bit, especially with all of the supply chain issues that we have had.”

Despite that, Raybeck emphasized the importance of people having patience with the construction crews throughout the duration of the project. “We’re doing our best. Everything is on schedule right now but, depending on the item that we might need, it might take a little bit of time,” he added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBOY.com.