Butler County prosecutors will have a new office soon

Shortly after Butler County Prosecutor Paul Oesterreicher took office, he was asked for his opinion about having a new building put next to his office. He thought it would be a good idea. And though it may be finished sooner than planned, Oesterreicher doesn’t plan to move into it.

The original building on the lot next to the Butler County Prosecutor’s office was in a state of disrepair and the decision was made to remove it and build in its place. In a short period of time, a large, two-story building has been erected and crews continue working on it daily. As a result, the new building will be the first new construction in the downtown area in several years.

Altogether, the building will be approximately 3,400 square feet counting all floors, according to Butler County Presiding Commissioner Vince Lampe.

“This all started with a conversation the previous commission had before the election,” Lampe explained. “We knew that we needed to do something to help with records storage, plus the prosecutor’s office has been needing more space for a while.”

“The schedule that was given for the completion would be, I believe, around the beginning of June,” Oesterreicher said. “But they seem to be moving quickly, so they might be finished ahead of that timeline. I guess we’ll see.”

Oesterreicher explained that he plans to stay in his current location, due to the fact that his office manager plans to stay where she is in the current location.

“It just makes sense for me to stay where she is,” Oesterreicher explained. “But the new building will certainly have a lot more space.”

He went on to explain that there will be two new offices that will likely be occupied by his part-time prosecutors, as well as child support enforcement agents.

The decision to demolish the old building next to the current prosecutor’s office, and rebuild on-site, was a common sense decision according to Lampe.

“We decided to do it that way because it’s what we had available,” Lampe remarked.

“They originally wanted to save the exterior bricks from the original building next door, but even those were in such bad shape they just had to build from the ground up,” Oesterreicher explained. “There will also be a large conference room (in the new building), and that will all be on the ground floor. But one third of the building will be utilized for storage. Some records are stored for indefinite periods of time. Some records — like original deeds — are stored on binders. Some of the records have been digitized, but there are also so many physical records that they need to be relocated.”

Oesterreicher and Lampe both explained that numerous volumes of county records are currently stored on the top floor of the courthouse, where the jail used to be. Oesterreicher’s predecessor, Kacey Proctor, originally discussed a new building with the county before he was sworn in to be the Butler County Circuit Judge.

“There are some structural issues that need to be addressed in the courthouse — primarily on the top floor,” Lampe explained. “It’s a really old building, so you’re going to have creaks and cracks to fix up along the way somewhere. It just makes sense to relocate those records.”

Lampe went on to say the total cost for the building was bid at $690,000.

“The contract was awarded to Sides Construction, and they have really been moving quickly,” Lampe noted. “They have had some decent weather to work in, and hopefully they’ll get more.”

Oesterreicher said he is looking forward to seeing the new building completed.

“I think it’s a good thing for the county and a good thing for this office,” he remarked. “And I’ll be happy to stay right where I am.”