The Chilton County Courthouse’s old commission room will be remodeled into a courtroom, as approved Monday by the county commission.

Chilton County Probate Judge Bobby Martin’s chief clerk, Mary Chambers, addressed the commission with the project plans and asked for their approval on Martin’s behalf.

The commission approved the request for the construction of a judge’s bench in April that will be paid from the building, road and bridge funds. Another renovation will include refurbishing the chairs in the courtroom.

The Department of Corrections (DOB) has given bids on the remodeling project.

Chilton County Commissioner Red Turnipseed accepted the request, and Greg Moore seconded it.

The vote was 6 to 1 for the approval of remodeling the courthouses’s old commission room into a courtroom. Turnipseed, Moore, Heedy Hayes, Tim Mims, Joe Headley and Bobby Agee voted in favor of the remodeling and Allen Caton opposed it.

“The reason I’m voting against it is because we don’t know if we have this money to be spending,” said Caton.

The board discussed the different payment options for the remodeling with Administrator Vanessa Hendrick.

After further discussion, it was decided that the cost of the remodeling project will be paid out of the building, road and bridge fund as well.

The decision to pay from that fund was approved unanimously.

In other business, the commission accepted an estimate for the Chilton-Clanton Library roof and air condition replacement, and for it to be bidded out and paid out of the land and management fund.

Turnispeed presented the council with the report of the work that he said has to be performed, including installing a new AC unit in the library’s service room, adding a fire alarm system, removing the existing roof and replacing damaged and rotten wood. The total estimated cost for the project is $236,718 plus 8 percent architectural fees.

A motion was made by Moore to accept the estimate and seconded by Turnipseed, but a discussion was brought up regarding the additional work that has been added to the project.

Some commissioners wanted to know how some additional work that had not been discussed previously had been added to the project and its cost, but after further discussion the commissioners voted 4 to 3 and approved the motion to accepted an estimate for the Chilton-Clanton Library roof and air condition replacement, and for it to be bidded out and paid from the land and management fund.

Hayes, Caton, Moore and Turnipseed voted in favor of the motion, and Mims, Agee and Headley were in opposition.

“Probably a month from today we will have final bids,” said Turnipseed.

Also, a resolution to start painting the bridge on Chilton County 55 was approved. Last meeting, Engineer Tony Wearren asked for a resolution to start the paperwork on painting the bridge after an inspection concluded rusting on the bridge was causing the web thickness to decrease.

During that time, the resolution was to be reviewed at a later date because of concerns of ownership.

Wearren informed the commission that it is the county’s bridge, and the vote to begin moving forward with painting the bridge on Chilton County 55 was approved unanimously.

The commission also approved a request for coroner Randy Yeargan to purchase a new coroner vehicle. The current vehicle is 16 years old and has more than 200,000 miles on it, said Yeargan.

The commission voted 5 to 2 to purchase a new coroner vehicle. Caton, Hayes, Mims, Turnipseed and Moore voted in favor of the request and Headley opposed. Agee abstained because of conflict of interest.