The Habersham County Commission approved an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the Habersham County Development Authority and the city of Clarkesville to tear down the old county courthouse on the downtown square in Clarkesville.
It was a divided 3-2 vote. Commissioners Jimmy Tench and Bruce Palmer voted against the plan but for different reasons.
Tench expressed the historical significance of the courthouse, but that was not his only concern.
“I don’t understand why we built five to six offices out there at the road department and also at Ingles. They want to take more money out to buy a place to put the voting machines [at the south voting precinct]. We could use the old courthouse to put our public works people in so they could have a place to work,” he said. “Ingles? Why mess with Ingles? We got a top floor up yonder [at the new courthouse]. Ain’t nobody using it.”
Palmer wanted to file for a grant to help pay for the project. He said it was a 50-50 grant. The county would have to go through a pre-application phase to find out if it’s eligible for the grant, and that could take up to 90 days. If the county is eligible for the grant, it would have to apply for the grant, and that could take months.
Palmer warned the commission that if the county takes a bid for the demolition project at any time during the grant application process, the project would no longer be eligible for the grant.
“I am not opposed to tearing the courthouse down, but I think we should wait until we see if we get that grant. Even if it’s a matching grant, half of $500,000 to pay for the demolition is better than $500,000 plus interest,” he said.
Vaughn explained to the commissioners that the county had not applied for the grant yet. She said the grant could be used for other purposes during the redevelopment phase of the project, such as improving the property’s infrastructure to support something like a hotel being built there.
Commission Chair Ty Akins and Commissioner Bruce Harkness asked if the county could move forward with the grant application even if the commission voted to demolish the courthouse. Vaughn said that the county could.
After the discussion, Commissioner Dustin Mealor made the motion to approve the IGA with the Habersham County Development Authority and City of Clarkesville to demolish the courthouse upon confirmation from the county attorney that it’s ok to proceed.
Harkness seconded the motion and Akins voted to approve the agreement.
