Nearly thirty years ago, the leaders of Lewis County began planning to expand our facilities to meet the growing needs of government. They diligently started saving for an expansion. Today we are celebrating the nearly three decades of fiscal stewardship and management that have made the Lewis County Judicial Annex a reality.
Numerous plans had been discussed, but it was not until 2009 when the Honorable Judge Thomas Keadle suggested a judicial annex that the county found a viable solution to our problem. The search began to find an architectural firm that could provide a solid, state of the art design to fit the needs of the court systems.
In the Spring of 2010, a competitive architectural bid produced the perfect partner for Lewi s County. Silling Associates, a West Virginia firm, with vast experience in judicial design was awarded the contract . Their accomplished team met with our local leadership and designed
a building that offers state of the art security, spacious courtrooms and offices, and easy, consolidated public access to all areas of the Lewis County judiciary.
The Lewis County Building Commission was given the important task of obtaining financing for the project. Their search investigated many public and private institutions with the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Fund being chosen. This choice has proven to not only be financially advantageous, but also has given us another partner that has worked tirelessly to see this project succeed. Paula Moeller, USDA Regional Representative
went well beyond the call of duty to mitigate an agreement with the State of West Virginia and the Federal Government that was required for the project to be viable. Without her efforts, we would not be standing here today.
In January, 2012, an advertisement for the Lewis County Judicial Annex construction brought forth a field of fifteen companies vying for the job. March Westin, a West Virginia company, was the successful bidder. Their experience and reputation are impeccable and we are thrilled to welcome them to the Lewis County team.
The path to this day has been long, but well worth the wait. The leadership of Lewis County and our new partners are honored to share this historic groundbreaking with the citizens of Lewis County. We welcome each of you back in 2013 for the ribbon cutting of the Lewis
County Judicial Annex.
