LIBERTY — The oldest functioning courthouse in the state is looking for a facelift.
The Amite County Board of Supervisors Monday voted to apply to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for the highly competitive Community Heritage Preservation Grant.
The program has about $5 million to spread around the state for the preservation and restoration of historic courthouses and school buildings.
Mary Helen Ferguson of The Ferguson Group presented a prioritized grant proposal with five renovation sections totaling $2.7 million. The board committed a cash match of $51,280, 20 percent of the totals from the top two priorities: restoring the courtroom and the courthouse exterior.
“It would be so good here. It’s a beautiful courthouse, it’s just concealed,” Ferguson said of the courthouse, which opened in 1840.
The plan for the courtroom includes repairing the original wood floor and ceiling, adding lights and repainting the walls for an estimated $196,000.
The exterior of the courthouse would be repainted, and the gutters, handrails and ceilings would be repaired for $60,400.
“This courthouse isn’t like your house or my house,” board attorney Reggie Jones said. “This courthouse will be here for hundreds of years. It’s where people will come for generations.”
The deadline for applications is Sept. 27, and the winners will be announced in December.
The board also:
• Approved the purchase of new radio equipment for the Amite County Sheriff’s Department with an Encana Oil Company grant of $30,000 and $335 from the equipment fund.
• Heard from Nancy Martin of the Amite County Historical Society about four major concerns at the Little Red School House: at least one leak in the roof; rotting boards in the gable; rotting boards in the stairs; and shifting posts supporting the balcony. The board has no money budgeted for repairs.
• Increased insurance coverage on the courthouse to $2.1 million, raising the property insurance premium to $11,584 from $9,834.
