Butler County aims for more projects

$1M in CARES Act funds would help with 4 municipal plans.

The Butler County commissioners are considering spending about $1 million on four projects designed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, including courtroom reconfiguration and touchless restrooms.

County Administrator Judi Boyko said it will cost an estimated $200,000 each to fully automate the parking garage that the commissioners have called “Stone Age,” install touchless faucets and toilets in four county buildings and combine two smaller visiting judge courtrooms. Switching to a touchless time card system would cost about $400,000.

There is still unallocated money from the $18.7 million the county received in coronavirus relief funding, and Boyko said she wants to get these projects in the pipeline. These projects are separate from the $4 million the commissioners earmarked in general fund

It will cost about $200,000 to fully automate the Butler County Government Services Center parking garage in Hamilton. budget for capital improvements.

The commissioners weren’t as enthusiastic about combining the two courtrooms, at least not yet.

“I think it would be a wasted opportunity if we didn’t look at the whole picture right now,” Commissioner Don Dixon said. “I don’t want to go and tear out a courtroom and figure out we’re a courtroom short.”

He said he would rather wait until a complete facility plan is finished before moving on courtroom changes.

Commissioner Cindy Carpenter said “we’re on the downhill side of the virus” and she isn’t sure creating a larger courtroom will be necessary. She added the county might eventually need to add a Common Pleas Court judge in the future as the population continues to grow.

Projects