The Yale expositor., 1912-03-21

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Pursuant 10 the action of the Board
of Supervisors of St Clair County,
the question of building a new court
house and county building is sub
mitted for YOUR decision at the
election April LIST.
That Il new building is very de-
sirable and almost an absolute ne
cessity, is admitted by all who are
acquainted with existing conditions.
and is emphasized by the practically
vote of the members of
the board of Supervisors in favor of
the project The County, at present.
has no building Of its own, but is
occupying leased quarters in Port
ty offices. excepting the Register of
Deeds Office, which is located in a
separate building back of the City
Hall. These present quarters have
become greatly inadequate to the
needs of the several departmnts of
the county government, and there
is no possible way of properly safe
guarding and protecting the valuable
records in the several offices. The
vaults in the first place are too small
to accommodate all the records, and
secondly, are not fireproof The sub
ject has been before theBoard several
times, Investigations having been
made both by the Board and the
Board of Auditors, and attention re-
peatedly called to the great risk our
records are exposed to.
At the June, 1911, session of the
Of N Of
Auditors presented the following
communication:
ITO the Honorable Board of Super
visors of st. Clair County:
Gentlemen We. the undersigned,
the Board of Auditors of st. Clair
County, would respectfully call your
attention to the urgent necessity of
providing additional vault room for
the several Offices of this county.
For sometime, great Inconvenience
has been experienced because Of
the greatly overcrowded condition of
the record vaults and all kinds of eX-
pedients have been necessary to
make some provision for the rapidly
accommodating records. These records,
as you are fully aware. are of great
value W TIC DtODlc vi TIE NOunly
and should be preserved in the best
possible manner, but owing to the
lack of room, this is impossible, and
they are now suffering much damage
and which if allowed to continue
will cost great deal of money ia
remedy.
1t may not be generally known to
your honorable body that the present
vaults are in no sense fireproof, and
that serious fire must surely de-
Stroy documents and records Of in.
estimable value, and which could
never be replaced, and the experience
OF other counties that have met with
such calamity, ought to be sufficient
liar loss. AS this condition exists
and Overcrowding has reached such
a stage that it can be no longer over
looked, we would respectfully recon-
mend TO your honorable body that
a special committee Of your members
be appointed at this session. TO give
the matter the attention it requires.
This matter was referred to the
building committee. which at a later
date reported in part as follows:
Gentlemen: Your Committee on
County Buildings, to whom was re
ferred the matter of vault room anC
proper fire protection for the records
OF the county, would report that we
find the vaults in the office of the
County Treasurer, Register of Deeds
Judge of Probate, and the safe in the
office of the County Auditors. are in
a dangerous condition. We find tina
the vault in the County Treasurer
office has no foundation, as it stands
over hallway below. The vaults il
the Register of Deeds Office are
packed with books and the floor il
covered with them, as there is NJ
room on the racks Also that tn,
south wall is settling and bullying on
and liable to fall at any time, ant
that so far as fire protection is con
cerned, there is none.
Concerning the Register of Deeds
office, we would further report tina
we consider it a disgrace to st. Clai
County. We are informed that there
are books lying around for want o
proper room that if destroyed coulC
not be replaced for $4,000.
we llHu tndJ the DullulnS is noalet
by two coal stoves, and that the fur
niture is all constructed of wood ant
would furnish fuel to help destroy tn,
records"
1t seems to us that there can be n,
question in any reasonable mind tina
better protection should be given on
records than can be obtained unde
present conditions. The records affec
millions of dollars worth of property
many of which, if destroyed coul,
never be replaced. Every possible safe
guard should be provided for their Pre-
lection. AS the building wherein mos
of them are now housed is not owne,
| by the county, and cannot he advant
ageously remodeled, the only alterna
tive seems to be the construction O
a new country building on suitabl
site to be used exclusively for count
purposes
In connection with this matter, w
desire to call your attention that sine
the county has been occupying its pres
ent quarters approximately $1,000 ha
been spent i'm repairs and improve
ments with practically nothing to tn
credit Of the county to show for it,
the present arrangements should b
continued, it would require an expens
estimated at $4,000 to remodel TN