The Webster Parish Police Jury has named an architect to begin looking at what will be done with the first floor of the courthouse annex, formerly Regions Bank.
Mike McSwain Architect, LLC was chosen during their February meeting, and McSwain says he’s gotten off to a good start.
“We came over and verified that you’ll have a lot more room and a room bigger for things like the committee meetings,” he said. “We scoped it out and did some quick diagrams and some cost estimates for what it would take to move forward.”
Randy Thomas, buildings and grounds chair, says the cost and what renovations will take place are still under discussion at this time.
Police Jury President Jim Bonsall says not much will have to be done in the way of renovation. The biggest portion, he feels, will be renovating the space where the teller area was located.
“The teller area needs to be redesigned,” he said. “That’s where we are talking about putting meeting rooms. What I’d like to do is go ahead and get some plans so we can get some real cost estimates and see what we can afford.”
The police jury purchased the building in May 2008, and Regions Bank had it leased for 10 years. They moved out of the building in November 2015 after renovating their Sibley Road branch to accept walk-in customers.