The Grant County Courthouse in Canyon City.

CANYON CITY — The Grant County Courthouse is showing its age, and county officials want to know what it would take to bring the structure up to modern standards — or whether replacing it might be more practical.

Completed in 1952, the building at 201 S. Humbolt St. in Canyon City contains the offices and hearing rooms of the Grant County Circuit Court and Grant County Justice Court.

It also houses most of the county’s key administrative functions, including a meeting room for the county court and the offices of the county clerk, assessor, district attorney, treasurer, human resources manager, planner and watermaster.

The Grant County Court voted 3-0 on Wednesday, July 3, to accept a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that will fund an architectural study of the 72-year-old building and provide preliminary cost estimates for three options:

• A complete renovation and remodel of the existing building. 

• Demolition of the current courthouse and construction of a replacement building on the same site.

• Construction of a brand-new courthouse on a different site.

“There are a lot of legacy challenges with this building — functionally, it’s past it’s life without significant updates or remodels,” Grant County Emergency Management Coordinator Eric Bush told the county court members. 

“The end product of this grant will be options for the court to look at,” he added. “You’ll have a menu you can pick and choose from down the road.”

The total cost of the study is expected to be $115,307. The FEMA grant will cover $103,776.30 of that amount, with the county expected to provide $11,530.70 in matching funds to cover the rest. Bush told the court that most or all of the match could likely come in the form of in-kind contributions, such as time spent on the project by county employees.

In an interview after the meeting, Bush said the federal funding comes from a FEMA hazard mitigation program aimed at ensuring the resilience of local government in the wake of a disaster such as a flood, fire or earthquake.

He also emphasized that the county court has not made any decision about what, if anything, to do about renovating or replacing the courthouse and noted that accepting the grant does not commit the court to a particular course of action.

“This is going to be a long process,” he said. “This is an effort to gather information.”

The next step will be to select an architecture and design firm to conduct the study. There is no set timeline to choose a vendor or complete the work, Bush said. The grant specifies that the study is to be completed by the end of October 2025, but Bush said that could probably be extended if need be. 

In addition to assessing the structural soundness and seismic readiness of the building, Bush said the study will look at factors such as building security, space utilization and functionality; the state of fixtures such as doors, windows and flooring; and the condition of the building’s heating, electrical and plumbing systems.

Many of those systems, Bush said, are badly out of date, such as a heating arrangement that relies on boiler-fired radiators.

The courthouse got a new roof a few years back, Bush said, but other than that it has had few significant renovations or upgrades.

“It’s really served the community well, but it’s basically a 1930s-1940s design that was completed in 1952,” he said. 

“Most public buildings are designed to last about 50 years before you need a significant remodel.”