COLUMBUS — Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin is calling for a safety review of the Franklin County Municipal Courthouse, announcing on Friday, Oct. 16 that council will hold a November hearing inside the aging building itself.
Hardin said court officials and staff feel misled and frustrated after Mayor Andrew Ginther cancelled plans for a new courthouse in July. The city had pursued a new building since 2018, and voters had twice approved bond levies for it, before Ginther said construction costs had climbed too high since the pandemic.
Under the mayor’s revised plan, the city will spend $260 million to renovate the existing courthouse instead of $335 million to build new, with rolling renovations expected to continue through 2034. Ginther has argued the renovation will still produce a safe, welcoming workplace, while freeing money for priorities such as the Barack Recreation Center and a major investment in fire apparatus.
Hardin, Ginther’s rival in the 2027 mayoral race, toured the 47-year-old courthouse last year and again two weeks ago with Administrative Judge Jessica D’Varga. He said the building’s condition stunned him on the first visit and had visibly worsened by the second, pointing in an Instagram video to deteriorating bathroom tile, water damage and an outdated holding cell system.
The building’s problems have drawn attention for months. Judges temporarily closed the courthouse earlier this year while part of its fire suppression system was offline, and staff continue to deal with fire code violations, elevator breakdowns and security concerns, issues Hardin says amount to an unacceptable and unsafe working environment.
Hardin framed the issue around the people who use the building every day, saying the city owes a safe and accessible place to the roughly half a million residents who pass through its doors each year and to the hundreds of city employees who work there. With the new-building project cancelled, he said, council needs answers about a realistic path forward.
The hearing is set for Nov. 9 at 1 p.m. at the Municipal Courthouse. Hardin said it will press the administration on how the decision against a new courthouse was made and what the long-term plan is, as part of a series of November council hearings on Ginther’s proposed 2026 capital budget, which the mayor presented Sept. 11 and has been urging council to pass quickly.
Ginther’s administration, asked about the hearing on Friday, referred to the mayor’s earlier comments defending the renovation plan. That leaves the November hearing as the next public test of whether the $260 million renovation, stretched over eight more years, can address the safety concerns council and court staff are now raising in public.
