Jefferson County Quorum Court on Tuesday, Sept. 8, scaled back a proposed $355,000 emergency appropriation for a centralized records facility, substituting $75,000 from the emergency reserve so Interim County Judge Ivan Whitfield can keep evaluating properties, run appraisals and begin protecting books.
The revised ordinance does not authorize buying any specific building — any purchase must return to the court. Officials said 146 record books already pulled for preservation jumped from an expected ~$10,000 to about $42,000, with hundreds more still in a moldy, leaking structure that holds 1800s-era ownership and court records.
Circuit Clerk Flora Cook-Bishop stressed the historical value of the volumes. Justices debated roof patches versus moving records, and Whitfield said the county should buy for 2046, not just 2026, as files from district courts, the collector, assessor and clerk remain scattered.
