BEND, OR -- Deschutes County Commissioners hope to finalize the design for renovations at the county courthouse by this summer. They received an update on the $41 million project Wednesday. 

Architect Mike Gorman says it was tough to stay on budget while creating paths for three key populations, "You’ve got the public circulation, you’ve got the staff circulation - basically, judges, and in custody. And you really don’t want those to cross at all." He says the addition will feature better security than the current courthouse, with separate elevators for staff and people in custody. 

The front entrance will also be at ground level, "So now, when you come in, you don’t have to go up steps. You’re coming in through security, there’s a bigger holding area; in other words, you can have a lot of people stacked and they're out of the weather. Because there’s those key times in the morning, right after lunch or whenever else, that you have people standing out in the weather." And, the plan includes more restrooms for the public and staff. 

This week’s crash into the pergola in front of the courthouse highlights the need for changes. Gorman told Commissioners the current building poses security concerns because of how close it is to the street. During construction of the addition, they’ll remove some parking and extend the curb, "From Bond down to the 2003 addition, we’ll bring that curb out to basically the street line. We’re also putting in - we might have to look at making it taller after seeing this vehicle fly through the air like it did - but we basically have these concrete blocks to hopefully stop exactly that type of thing happening."

He says the new building will be three stories and made of stone, "Trying to come up with how do you take the 1977 original building, how do you take the 2003 addition and how do you take the original courthouse; how do you try to make this thing look or feel or come together? And so our option that we came up with is distinctly different. You’ve got the 2003 that stands out. You have the new entrance, which kind of stands out differently as well. And then you have the corner building, because obviously it’s a very prominent corner in downtown, being on Bond and Greenwood."

Commissioners have not yet finalized funding sources for the project and hope some money will come from the legislature. Construction could begin in the spring of 2024.