FARMINGTON – A Franklin County Building Committee appeared to be temporarily stunned Thursday when a Lewiston and Bethel-based architectural firm presented another preliminary facility-use concept to them.

Smith Reuter Lull Architects is in the process of doing a space and structural needs study of the courthouse and sheriff’s office, looking at short- and long-term needs for county facilities and ways to fix those issues cost effectively.

“We knew that if we came up with a plan and it could not be implemented, it is pointless,” said Noel Smith of the architectural firm. Smith unveiled a proposal that would have a three-story annex built in the back section of the Franklin County Superior Courthouse parking lot at the farthest distance from Main Street. The annex would border Church Street and the two buildings would be connected by a corridor link.

It would consolidate functions of district, family, probate and superior courts. The district attorneys office would move from the basement of the courthouse to the top-floor of the annex, with easy accessibility to superior and district court rooms.

In the link to the two buildings, a new elevator would be installed that would allow for separation of public and inmates being transported for court.

Currently, court is held in two separate buildings on opposite sides of the street.

The architects will present a contract proposal to Farmington selectmen at their 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 12 meeting at the municipal building to see if they want do a similar study on the police station.

Under the firm’s proposal presented Thursday to the county and some Farmington town officials in dual roles, Farmington police would be housed in a newly constructed building. It would be on the town-owned land at the corner of High and Farmington Falls Road.

Housed with police in that building would be county emergency dispatch services and the county EMA.

The sheriff’s department would expand into the vacated space of dispatch on County Way, adjacent to the jail.

There is still uncertainty about the future status of small jails, including probably Franklin County, Smith said, and this would buy a little time to see if the state will require the county jail to close in the future. If that happens, the jail building would be empty and the sheriff’s department could move into it.

Short-term fixes are needed to make the dispatch center more secure and get the offices out of the basement of the county courthouse. Trouble with leaks, mold and mildew have become more prevalent in recent years.

Register of Deed operations and county administration, including the commissioners’ office, would move into leased space in a state office building, where district and superior court clerk functions and court proceedings are done, and family court is located.

The first preliminary concept presented in June surprised building committee members as well.

That one proposed building a public safety complex on property the county owns, near the sheriff’s office, and would house Farmington police, sheriffs, dispatch, county EMA and county administration. In that plan, probate court would move across the street to share space with district court.

John Cleveland, who is working with the firm on the project to find financial resources, said, the new proposal to house all court operations and lease space, would not cost the county anymore than it spends to run the courthouse.

The entities could form partnerships between the court, county, and municipality to go after funds, he said.

The state court system is in the process of consolidating court operations and preserving historic superior courts.

County building committee members asked for time to digest the proposal and plan to meet as a group to discuss it.

“If some things don’t work for you, it can be looked at,” Smith said. “Nothing is cut in stone.”