Thursday, June 21, 2007
One flower is visible on the courthouse property.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON — The grounds around the Columbiana County Courthouse may receive much needed improvements.
Commissioner Penny Traina said Wednesday the work would be done over about two years at no cost to taxpayers.
An advanced design class in the horticulture program at the Kent State University Salem Campus will study what is needed. There’s no initial plan for what the landscaping may look like.
Traina said she had contacted school officials who readily agreed to help.
The planning and planting could take until 2009, she added.
Commissioner Dan Bing said the project will consider what flowers may have been around the building in the past as well as what is currently near the courthouse.
“I think it will be beautiful,” Traina said.
Renovation project
The courthouse is undergoing a $3.5 million renovation project that includes new heating and cooling, a new roof, renovation of the courtrooms and new windows.
No money was budgeted for the grounds, and the county has one worker to maintain its properties.
Traina said she would try to get money from Waste Technologies Industries for the landscaping project. WTI, which runs a hazardous waste incinerator in East Liverpool, has provided funds for past community projects.
There are some landscaped areas with small evergreens at the front of the courthouse. There are also landscaped areas on the north side of the courthouse that include some small evergreens and birch trees.
The areas have a number of weeds and one visible flower.
The south and west sides of the courthouse are bounded, respectively, by a parking lot and an alley.
Village property
The three sections of the square to the north and east of the courthouse are village property. They include a number of well-maintained flowers and shrubs, benches, a fountain and a gazebo.
Tracey Wonner, the village’s fiscal officer, said the village’s street department takes care of the mowing and other maintenance.
The Lisbon Shade Tree Commission helps with the upkeep, she added.
The village’s cost, including labor, is about $3,500 a year, Wonner said, and the village has a general fund of about $1.7 million this year.
The county, by comparison, has a $17.8 million general fund this year.
Both the village and the county have used female jail inmates to help with the maintenance of their properties.
wilkinson@vindy.com