LINDEN-The repairs, relocations and renovations around the Marengo County Courthouse are coming to a close. Marengo County Commission Chairman Freddie Armstead said Tuesday repairs to the Annex Building and other buildings should be completed in the near future.

“As you know we are probably 95 to 96 percent finished on the annex building,” Armstead said. “Hopefully, we will be in there and be able to move by the first of the month. We have done al the stain work, we have air conditioners back on the line so we are about 95 percent finished on that building.”

The courthouse has undergone renovations inside and outside for several months. Armstead said the roof work was almost done and other projects inside the courthouse walls were making progress.

“They have also come over on this building and put the roof on the courthouse,” Armstead said. “Now they are working on this building (the courthouse) and they will be through with that hopefully by the end of next week. We are moving along on that.”

The county had also approved the use of the old Piggly Wiggly building on Highway 43 to house other offices. Armstead said this building was also coming together.

“As for the Piggly Wiggly building, the state has come in and done most of their work,” Armstead said. “They had one more area just as you walk in the door they needed to work on.”

Armstead said most of the work was associated with floor tiling and would be easy to deal with. Armstead said they had also looked into some of the air conditioning issues of the building that had created some extra expense. Armstead said they hated to see the extra expenses that had come with the building, but they were a necessary evil.

“It is working out pretty good, but we are spending a little more than we had anticipated,” Armstead said. “We have to have it though so we are just going to have to keep moving on.”

The next major move will be to relocate judges and clerks. Armstead said they would begin their move upstairs next Thursday and would be shut down until the move was complete.

Armstead said the move had been complicated, but for the most part, things were going according to plan.

“We are on track,” Armstead said. “As soon as they get that started and we get moved out they are going to start up on the second floor and go downstairs.”