Solicitor eyes vacant library wing for expanded offices

Second Judicial Circuit Solicitor Strom Thurmond Jr. considers the Aiken County Public Library's north building a viable option as a site to relocate the circuit's offices since room has run out at the Aiken County Judicial Center downtown.

But, the regional library system's director points out that the north building can also be used for a future expansion.

There is 17,000 square feet of unused space in the north building, Thurmond said, which is more than adequate to house the circuit's divisions.

The majority of staff ¬­¬­- 27 employees - occupy 4,700 square feet in the Aiken County Judicial Center (courthouse). The other 10 are in the Juvenile Arbitration Program offices on Barnwell Avenue and in the Worthless Check Unit offices in Kalmia Plaza.

"We have exceeded the courthouse's ability to house staff," Thurmond said in a presentation to Aiken County Council's Judicial and Public Safety (JPS) Committee. "And, it is inefficient for me to have staff all over Aiken.

"Forty-plus employees need at bare minimum 10,000 square feet."

He also noted the library's close proximity to the courthouse.

The JPS Committee took the presentation as information only.

Mary Jo Dawson, director of the Aiken-Bamberg-Barnwell-Edgefield Regional Library System, has begun pulling library board meeting minutes and other documents to trace the history of the buildings.

She learned of the presentation Wednesday and called County Administrator Clay Killian, who encouraged her to look into the library's history.

She said the papers may reveal that the library buildings, when deeded to Aiken County from the board of trustees, were meant to be used for educational or library purposes only.

"It is clear to me in documents I've seen that the board of trustees who spearheaded the acquisition of the north building meant that it would be used for future expansions. We have space needs, too. Clearly we're interested in that space, too," Dawson said. "Clearly it (the history) needs to be investigated."

Regardless of whether it is the library that expands into the north building or it is the solicitor's offices that relocate there, significant renovations need to be completed on the space beforehand.

JPS Committee chair LaWana McKenzie said she has no idea what the cost would be and any step Council might take would likely start like a cost analysis.

Aiken County staff wondered Tuesday if grant money is available since the library building has historical value. The Aiken Institute opened in the north sector in 1891 and the annex with a second bell tower, which presently houses the library, was added in 1914.

"My understanding is his (Thurmond's) office does have needs and he was trying to help us understand those needs," McKenzie said. "We all knew space was a problem."