By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Every now and then someone gets trapped in the oldest elevator in the Levy County Courthouse. The elevator gets stuck with passengers inside.
All those trapped inside have been rescued.
Levy County Commissioners Tuesday voted to replace the aging relic. The estimated cost is about $100,000 to $125,000 to replace the passenger compartment and upgrade the elevator to Americans with Disabilities standards.
Commissioner John Meeks won unanimous support for his motion to replace the elevator and get a cost estimate on replacing a second courthouse elevator.
“We got to replace the one people are getting trapped in because one lawsuit could wipe out $100,000 in a hurry,” Meeks said.
The elevator is located on the first floor of the courthouse near the clerk’s offices. Many of the customers heading for the civil division on the second floor of the clerk’s office use the elevator.
Chief Deputy for the Clerk’s Office Deanna Dobbins said she uses the elevator every day because of a hip issue. She must use the elevator instead of the steep stairs. Her office is where the tax collector was once located.
She recalled one incident when one of her clerks was returning from a court trial after regular courthouse hours and climbed into the elevator only to have it get stuck. The clerk had no cell phone to call for help.
“It just so happened that another clerk went to the restroom and heard her beating on the door,” Dobbins said. “We would have missed her eventually. We wouldn’t have gone home without her. Of course, it was very scary. It is often scary. I work after hours and on weekends. I have to use that elevator because I can’t use the stairs.”
Dobbins said she called Jimmy Jones, director of construction and maintenance, and he managed to free the trapped clerk.
“He was able to get the door open. She had to step up to get out of the elevator,” Dobbins said.
Dobbins estimates 60 percent of the customers coming to her second-floor office use the elevator. It didn’t get as much use when the tax collector was in the office Dobbins occupies.
Jones told commissioners his employees have done a small amount of maintenance on the elevator, but he added, “Two elevator companies said we’ve pretty much exceeded what we can do with that elevator.”
Clerk of Court and Comptroller Danny Shipp, who is Dobbins’ boss, recalls the last time someone got stuck in the elevator.
“The last man got stuck in it with his family. He was a retired fireman and he got hung in it. Nothing worked inside of it,” Shipp said.
The decision to replace the elevator was made during a budget hearing of the county commission.
Board members also discussed a proposal to build a sidewalk from the secure side of the building at the entrance to the courtrooms, to the other side of the courthouse that is primarily a stairway entrance.
The county is talking about constructing an elevated sidewalk built to ADA standards with a handrail from the secure entrance to the other entrance. Officials are concerned about having to potentially remove a magnolia tree between the two courthouse entrances or possibly two palm trees next to the secure entrance. Nothing has been decided.
The current handicapped entrance ramp to the courthouse barely meets ADA standards due to the steep incline wheelchair users must negotiate to reach the elevator at the top of the hill. When the doors close, the elevator lurches for a moment before the doors open to the first floor of the courthouse.
Commissioners also discussed courthouse security. The county commission has access to $1.3 million in the small county courthouse funds plus an additional $600,000 from the court facilities fund.
Shipp said the county commission levies $65 on every traffic ticket issued in Levy County. The money goes to the court facilities fund.
“Some of these judges have reached over there in it deeper than you all are able to reach – just to let you know where it comes from and who is in charge of it as far as I’m concerned,” Shipp said.
Jared Blanton, financial director for the clerk’s office and budget officer for the county commission, said the court facilities money is under the board’s control and authority.
“That court facility money can only be used legally for certain court-related purposes but it’s under the discretion of the board,” Blanton said.
He added that he anticipates half of the money for upgrading the oldest courthouse elevator will come from court facilities and the other half from the county commission’s primary operating fund.
Meeks said he didn’t want to lose sight of the $1.3 million in small county courthouse facility money just because the commission moved its office from the courthouse to the Levy County Government Center.
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Board of County Commission Budget Workshop May 17, 2022; Posted May 18, 2022
