The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1955-07-08
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SOME REASONS ADVANCED
FOR COURTHOUSE ADDITION

FOR COURTHOUSE ADDITION
Over the past few months much
has been said in opposition to the
building of an addition to the Dare
County Courthouse. 1t has been
claimed that the proposed add
ton would be nothing more than
an unfinished Jail except that quar-
tiers for some of the county Off
GERS would be made luxurious. That
contention is distortion of the
real purpose of the Board of Coun-
ty Commissioners and for this rea-
son we feel that the issue must
be discussed pro and con.
The plans for the Courthouse ad-
dition provides an office and a
much larger vault for the Register
! of Deeds; an office and a much
larger vault for the Clerk of Court;
an office and a vault for the Tax
Supervisor; an additional office for
the Sheriff's Department.; an Of
fee for the Veterans Officer; two
adjoining offices for the farm agent
and the home demonstration agent
respectively; an office for the Ii
cense examiner and an arrange
ment for the petit jury room and
the lawyers room adjoining the
court room so that these two will
be exclusively available for that
purpose alone.
Some of these offices will be in
| the old part of the Courthouse and
will be in the space vacated when
the new building is completed.
There will be, however, six new
offices in the addition, two of which
will be fireproof vaults for the
Register of Deeds and the Clerk of
Court which will be much larger
than those at present, and four
rest rooms. There will also be a
new Jail, built according to state
specification for such an installa-
ton and which will be completely
fireproof.
1t is very true that the old Jail
could be remodeled and made safe
but it would not be economical for
the foundations must be revoked.
This building at present is sag
ging badly and the doors much of
the time cannot be closed and be-
! cause of their steel construction
must be removed and cut off with
a torch. The present Jail has al
ways been accessible from the out
side to the prisoners and the State
authorities insist that high fence
or a wall be constructed around
the building. There is no convenient
way to provide adequate heating or
lighting according to specifications.
Further, if the Courthouse is to be
enlarged with any regard to ap-
pearance the space now used for
the Jail must be used.
There will be provided a central
heating plant for the Courthouse
and its addition which will be of a
size to take care of the heating re-
quirements during any weather
condition.
Personally we agree that we need
a new courthouse but in the con-
sideration of this proposal the
Board of County Commissioners re-
jected this possibility due to lack
of funds at present and due to the
urgent need of space in the court
house which would not allow them,
in their opinion, to wait till such
funds could be accumulated. In ad-
dition the county is not legally
permitted to accumulate tax funds
for this or any other purpose.
Therefore this entire proposal is
based on present needs and on
available means of providing for
these needs.
! The Board of County Commits
sioners were faced with two means
of accomplishing the addition to
the courthouse. First was to raise
the tax rate over period of two
years which would be approximate
ly from 80 per 500 to 81 per
500. This possibility was discard
ed at once. Second was to call for
a bond issue and a vote of the
people, which was the adopted
method.
The Jail for the outer banks
came about from petition of the
! people on the outer banks. These
bond issues, although simultaneous,
are in no way connected to each
other for one may be accepted and
the other may be turned down.
Should the people on the outer
banks decide that they do not want
a Jail they may at any time so in
form the board of county commits
sioners. To date we know of no
such official notification and as far
as is known directly the petitions
are still valid.
1t is proposed to use first the
$4,000 received from the sale of
county property on Bodie Island.
The preliminary bids indicated
that the cost would be for the pro-
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