COLUMBIANA COUNTY Opening slated for law library

Regulations require an elevator if the second floor is used for public offices.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County officials expect to open a new law library early this month.
Much of the summer has been spent converting the first floor of a former bank into a depository for more than 10,000 law volumes.
Judge Thomas Baronzzi of the county probate and juvenile courts said recently that the project is nearly completed and the facility already is seeing limited use.
Although the library will fully open soon, it won't be available to the public. The library will provide a place for area attorneys and judges to do legal research. Counties are required by law to provide a law library.
Leaving cramped space
For decades, the county's law library has been in the basement of the courthouse. But the space has become too cramped.
The former bank building, located on Market Street about a block from the courthouse, was bought this spring for $206,000.
A court fund fueled with fines and costs from criminal cases covered most of the price and provided about $20,000 to renovate the bank's first floor.
The county bar association contributed about $41,000 to help buy the building.
So far, bank teller stations have been removed, new carpet has been laid and book cases have been installed.
When the library is finished, it will feature two conference rooms and Internet access to aid in legal research.
While the library is being completed, commissioners are trying to come up with a use for the building's second floor.
Commissioners want to put a public office there. But if the office is open to the public, an elevator must be installed to meet federal regulations to make it accessible to people with disabilities.
Cost of the elevator is estimated at $158,000, Commissioner Jim Hoppel said Tuesday.
About $80,000 of that amount is earmarked for the project, with $50,000 from federal funds and $30,000 from court funds, Hoppel said.
The source of the remaining money is unclear, he added.
Commissioners are looking at possibly more federal money being available for the project next year.
Hoppel said he's hopeful that an elevator can be installed sometime in 2004.