AUBURN — For almost a decade, David Cote has worked behind the scenes at the Androscoggin County Courthouse and Jail, helping to keep the aging, 155-year-old building and the younger jail facility operating. The Sun Journal wanted to hear more from the guy who knows the worn seat of Androscoggin County government like no one else.

Name: David Cote

Age: 36

Hometown: Lewiston

Single, relationship or married? I am married to my lovely wife, Lisa, for 9 years.

Children? I have three great kids. Two boys and a girl.

Part of your job is to keep the Androscoggin County Courthouse working. It’s an old building, dating back to the Civil War era. What’s the toughest part of keeping a building like that functioning every day? Old meets new. Anytime you try to make something better, you run into problems. A simple example: A couple years ago we needed to update the computer network in the county building. It sounds simple enough. The problem was that there was no path to run wire. We needed to drill through two-feet-thick walls. The building was never designed for running wires, water or even heat. We had wood fireplaces in the offices. Now that the work has been done, it will be easier in the future to modify or upgrade the network wiring.

You have to deal with all of the building’s systems: plumbing, heating and electricity. How did you learn to maintain all of this? There are a lot of different ways I learned to perform my job. I did building trades in high school. My father taught me heating, welding and more. Trial and error. College, and a lot of on-the-job training. One of my old supervisors once told me to steal. “Steal as much knowledge as you can when working with other contractors,” he said. “They come with years of experience and knowledge. Just take it.”

Do you have experience working in the private sector on construction or other related specialties? I worked as a carpenter after high school. From there, I worked as a mechanical insulator traveling New England on commercial and industrial sites. During the seven years I was there, I moved up the ranks to a foreman and to the office.

How long have you worked for the county? I’ve been working for the county for a little more than nine years. For the first six years, I was working as a maintenance technician. Half of my time was working in jail. I spent three years as the maintenance supervisor. Recently I was promoted to facility director.

Taxpayers in Androscoggin County could save $100,000 this winter in fuel costs, thanks in part to a suggestion you had for connecting the courthouse to natural gas lines. Do you have any other big ideas for saving money? I always have ideas, but until I have worked out the details, that’s all they are. Some projects are put into place during repairs. With replacements come energy-efficient parts and equipment.

Because of where you work, you get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the Sheriff’s Department, the courts and the jail. What have you learned about any of them that folks might find surprising? Working in the different departments gives us the opportunity to get to know the employees. People from the outside world may view certain departments as being helpful or not, based on their personal experience. We get to know the people and see that they have personal lives outside of their jobs.

Budgets at the county are always tight. What do you wish you could do at the county that you cannot afford? There are many things I could wish for, but a wish is not something I would ask for in my budget. The most realistic thing I could wish for would be another full-time employee. It would allow me to facilitate more care for the buildings and the grounds.

The Androscoggin County Commission is working on a multi-million-dollar renovation plan for the courthouse. How bad is the old building? That is something I would like to leave for the county commissioners to explain.

Do you have a favorite corner of the courthouse? The clock tower. It’s a piece of history that is still the same from the time it was installed around the 1860s. It is untouched by modernization. Some towns have removed them and displayed them behind glass and added auto winders. Ours still gets wound manually every week.