After Geauga County Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri questioned the City of Chardon’s commitment to completing the renovation and expansion of the historic courthouse on Chardon Square, Mayor Chris Grau said Chardon continues to work with the county to ensure its financial contribution is fulfilled.
After Geauga County Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri questioned the City of Chardon’s commitment to completing the renovation and expansion of the historic courthouse on Chardon Square, Mayor Chris Grau said Chardon continues to work with the county to ensure its financial contribution is fulfilled.
Spidalieri’s comments came at the end of an intense meeting between commissioners’ staff and the Geauga County Budget Commission Aug. 30 in a conference room at Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder’s office on Chardon Square.
After the meeting, County Administrator Gerry Morgan said the courthouse project started with a preliminary estimated cost of around $17 million, but is now closer to $19.8 million.
Spidalieri asked at what point the project would be stopped for cost overruns.
“I’m looking across the street and it looks like basically just framework, you know. And, I can only imagine if we’ve already had this kind of overrun, what is it potentially going to be,” he said. “We just cannot have this endless supply of cash that’s just going to continue to go to this.”
In 2022, the county and city reached a legal settlement that dictated Chardon’s portion of the cost of rehabbing the courthouse.
Spidalieri said the county hasn’t “seen a dime” from the city toward the courthouse project.
“Chardon’s agreement with the county is very clear,” Grau said in a statement Sept. 6. “The city agreed to contribute 10% toward the public infrastructure, site work and beautification of the square, and the city’s contribution is capped at $2 million.”
However, Spidalieri said Aug. 30 he had been approached by three different people during the Great Geauga County Fair who told him the city of Chardon was “starting to push back” on contributing to the project.
“I don’t know if it’s 100% true,” he said of the rumor.
However, in his statement, Grau said the city asked at multiple points in the process when and how its contribution would be made. As its portion of the cost is capped at a percentage of the total project, the city was told its payment would not come until the end of the process.
Pivoting to the county-owned buildings on the square, Walder, Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz and Treasurer Chris Hitchcock — all of whom comprise the budget commission — told Spidalieri and commissioners Tim Lennon and Jim Dvorak the county had not been adequately maintaining their offices on the square.
Flaiz said his windows have not been cleaned in two-and-a-half years.
Walder recalled a situation in which rodents buried themselves in the walls of his office space, which led to a two-week evacuation of his staff until the smell subsided.
Ceiling tiles in the space have repeatedly fallen in, he added.
Spidalieri said he never supported keeping county offices on the square in Chardon and maintenance costs for properties in the city are “bleeding wounds that are just going to continue to suck (the county) dry.”
“You don’t have to work in these buildings. Our people do,” Flaiz said. “And for you to say, well, you’re not going to put another nickel in ’em — we’re going to be in these buildings for decades. So, money needs to be invested in them. And you guys … have totally abandoned your statutory duties in maintaining these buildings.”
Walder said a stairway to his office that county maintenance workers improperly constructed collapsed under an employee who suffered serious injuries and was out of work for nine months.
“I didn’t sleep for weeks worrying about — this guy’s going to sue us and hold us liable for it. Because we’re the ones who — we being the county — constructed that stairway,” Walder said.
Spidalieri countered with a reminder officeholders on the square were given the opportunity to move into a new space, but officials dug their heels in and chose to stay in Chardon.
“We wanted you in a brand-new building. You know, we wanted everybody in a brand-new building, including the courts,” he said. “But yet, think about the logistics of what we’re spending there. … The responsible thing for taxpayers was not to put $20 million across the street, and how many millions of dollars we continue to spend and what we’re going to continue to spend.”
During discussions about the county’s new administrative center on Ravenwood Drive — and after an opinion from the Ohio Attorney General which said certain county offices needed to stay within the legal boundaries of Chardon — some proposals included building new offices and a new courthouse on county property at the southern edge of the city.
Spidalieri said with foresight, officials could now be moving into new, state of the art facilities at this point instead of asking for repairs to “dilapidated” buildings on the square.
“And it’s hard, I’m not going to lie to you. It’s hard to sit here and listen to this because we’ve, we’ve thrown a lot of good dollars on bad,” he said, referring to complaints about the county offices on the square. “I just feel like sometimes this comes down on the commissioners because of the fact that we ultimately have to make some of these decisions and I obviously didn’t have the support at the time to get that across, to basically hold the line to say … we’re the authority that says you’re moving. And we should have moved everybody. And we tried to try to appease everybody, and now where are we at?”
Circling back to the courthouse, Spidalieri warned of an increase in traffic problems once the project is completed.
“I tried to back out of a space over here and almost got blindsided. What do you think it’s going to be like when that courthouse opens up with that many more people? Think this is going to be improved? It’s not,” he said.
In his followup statement, Grau said the city plans to make payments diligently once arrangements are finalized.
“Indeed, we have encumbered $2 million to be able to make our contributions,” he said. “The city has never wavered on its full commitment to honor its side of the equation and has worked diligently with the county on all aspects, including all requisite zoning and architectural approvals.”
The city’s expectation is that all parties will act in good faith to fulfill their commitments, Grau said.
“This is an exciting project for the county, the courts, the city of Chardon and the community at large,” he said.
