Assistant County Manager Joey Bryan speaks to the Lenoir County Commissioners. Photo by Catherine Hardee / Neuse News

The Lenoir County Board of Commissioners met Monday and approved a contract for repairs to the courthouse. 

The commissioners heard details of what repairs to the Lenoir County Courthouse will entail and approved a contract for $513,000 for exterior cleaning, re-caulking and re-gasketing windows. 

Assistant County Manager Joey Bryan laid out some of the specifics for the board members.

“This is a five-month project … because the older part of the courthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places, they have to clean it in a different way,” he said. “They’ve got to clean out the joint material … that has been pulled out and leaking. The windows in the atrium where the finance office is will be re-gasketed.

“hey will also be doing all the planter beds, sidewalks and steps. All the mortar in those will be taken out and re-caulked.”

Board of Commissioners Chairman Linda Rouse Sutton said she was glad to get a full description of all the areas the repairs would address.

“I think some people were under the impression that all we were going to do is just pressure-wash the building,” she said. “It’s much more involved than that. It’s been causing some of the damage that we’ve got inside the building.”

Bryan said the areas where the building is leaking must be addressed before repairs can be considered to water-damaged areas inside the courthouse.

The board voted 4-1 to approve the contract, with Commissioner J. Mac Daughety voting against it. 

Other business during the meeting included the approval of a county-wide alert system and a presentation from an official with the U.S. Census Bureau.

Emergency Services Director Jeri King presented details of the SwiftReach/Swift 911 software that would allow citizens to sign up for alerts about severe weather and other emergencies. The software would also allow the county to send alerts to employees in emergency situations. 

The board approved a contract for $13,320 for the purchase of the software. 

Kenneth Wilkins with the Census Bureau made a presentation on the importance of the upcoming 2020 Census. He encouraged commissioners to consider a resolution supporting the census and the formation of a county level Complete Count Committee to ensure the fullest possible participation in Lenoir County. 

Sutton told Neuse News the board would be forming a committee, with the members likely to be named at the next county commissioners meeting in August. 

“I think [County Manager] Michael [James] has already been working on getting some folks lined up,” he said. “We are going to try to get some people from the Department of Social Services, Greene Lamp and the extension office, as well as some members from the community.”

The next meeting of the Lenoir County Board of Commissioners is scheduled for Monday, August 5, at 9 a.m. at the Lenoir County Courthouse.