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A year after the fire that damaged the old county courthouse, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors at its Sept. 10 meeting gave the green light to a project that would put the building back in use. The plan allows the county to receive bids from architects to design its new interior for a variety of uses.
According to the staff report presented in the meeting agenda packet, the building was cleaned, abated and “has been completely gutted.”
The various county departments that were closed after the Sept. 6, 2023, fire and which had to be relocated will return to the building and occupy the second floor. Among these are the assessor, treasurer, tax collector and public administrator departments.
The county is considering temporarily placing the library on the bottom floor of the courthouse while it works on expanding the library’s current facility. Ultimately, the plan calls for the elections office to occupy the first story.
“Hopefully, by 2027, we can move the library staff into their nice, new remodeled building,” San Benito County Public Works Administrator Steve Loupe said.
After the fire the assessor, treasurer, tax collector and public administrator departments were relocated to a building at 1131 San Felipe Way, near the Community Food Bank, and the county clerk, recorder and elections offices were moved to a complex near the airport at 1601 Lana Way.
The Resource Management Agency, which is in charge of the county’s planning and building services, and the library staff decided to use the first floor of the courthouse as a temporary facility after many meetings. They pondered what would be the library’s best course of action, armed with the $10 million grant from the California State Library. The dilemma was whether or not to use the old courthouse as the new permanent home for the library.
The idea of converting the courthouse into a library was abandoned when the group realized it could add more space at a lower per-unit cost by augmenting the library’s current building. Expanding the library from 11,000 to 18,000 square feet at the current premises would cost $13.5 million, but adding 1,000 square feet (for 12,000 feet in total) with a move to the first story of the courthouse would cost $11 million.
Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki questioned the cost of extending the library. Although he said he supports the expansion, he said that spending $13.5 million for 7,000 square feet of more space was “a tough pill to swallow.”
Loupe and Supervisor Bea Gonzales said that this was the best deal they could get, as the library is an old building and updating it is expensive. Also, they could not build a brand new library as the state grant was specifically for expansion of an existing facility.
The Board of Supervisors approved Loupe’s request to move forward with the request for proposals to hire an architect to design the old courthouse remodel and relocate the various county offices there once it’s finished.
“It’s disappointing we can’t do more,” said Supervisor Angela Curro. “But we just don’t have enough money. That’s the bottom line.”
Here is the timeline Loupe presented:
- September 2024: the county releases a Request for Proposals to receive bids for the design of the courthouse.
- October 2024: the Board of Supervisors awards the courthouse contract to an architect.
- December 2024: the county releases a request for qualifications for the library’s design-building team.
- February 2025: supervisors approve a contract with the library’s design-building team.
- March 2025: the selected architect has to present the courthouse design.
- May 2025: the Board of Supervisors approves the contract to begin construction on the courthouse.
- November 2025: the architect submits a final design for the library expansion.
- February 2026: construction of the courthouse is completed; the library staff, assessor, treasurer, tax collector and public administrator are relocated.
- June 2026: library construction begins.
- October 2027: library expansion is completed.
- November 2027: library staff returns to their building.
Members of the public and the supervisors agreed on both the project of expanding the library and remodeling the old courthouse.
“This adjustment will enhance accessibility for voters with disabilities,” said Ana de Castro Maquiz, chief deputy county clerk-recorder-elections. “It will provide convenient access to the voter center and the historical records, and will centralize equipment storage.”
However, some constituents worried that the Elections Department would be located in the same building as the Board of Supervisors offices.
“Elected officials should not be anywhere near where votes are being counted,” said Robert Bernosky, a candidate for Hollister School District Trustee Area 4 on Nov. 5.
The supervisors said they looked for other office space options and this was the best plan they could make.
“We are full-time county employees and we have no office space,” said Gonzales. “When constituents come in and want to talk privately, we’re going to places like Starbucks and local restaurants to have really critical conversations. It’s not the ideal place, but we need to find a place for the Board of Supervisors.”
In the meantime, the board will continue to work remotely, as they have done in past years. Kosmicki said he doesn’t need an office and can continue working at home.
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