HERMANN — A divided Gasconade County Commission Thursday morning settled on the county government projects that will use the bulk of the remaining $2.4 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money in the bank.

County administrators voted 2-1 to spend about $2.1 million on the installation of an elevator in the courthouse and improvements to the exterior of the historic building, including repairing the stone steps leading to the courthouse from First Street (Highway 100).

Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, and Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann, voted for Holland’s proposal to “fix it all” after a brief heated discussion with Schulte over the proposed elevator. Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville, voted against, citing what he said could be difficulty in raising private donations for courthouse improvements if potential donors recognize that enough ARPA money is available to finance the work.

“We do have the money, so we should fix the building,” Holland said. “It just needs to be fixed, period,” he added.

This vote was the second split vote cast by the Commission. Moments earlier, Schulte moved to approve the elevator project, which has at this point an estimated price tag of about a half-million dollars.

“It’s going to get us up to snuff with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) people,” the presiding commissioner said. “I’m 100-percent on board with the elevator before we do anything else,” he added.

Having an elevator in the courthouse was the top priority of a wishlist of projects put forth by county government elected officials and courthouse staff several months ago regarding potential projects that could be funded with the ARPA money. The notion of an elevator first was raised a couple decades ago. Gasconade County has been operating under a waiver from the U.S. Department of Justice for not having a lift because second-floor services can be provided on the first floor. There’s also a first-floor courtroom that could accommodate court participants who would not be able to walk up the stairs to the large courtroom.

“I think it’s time to move forward on it, because we’ve been talking about it forever,” Schulte said.

That drew a sharp response from Holland.

“We haven’t been talking about it forever,” he said, just before he set out his list of priority county projects. All three commissioners offered what they thought should be priority projects funded with the ARPA money.

Indeed, Holland did not include an elevator on his list. Rather, he said the restoration of the courthouse itself should be the top item.

“You fix a house before you put furniture in it,” he said.

His second-top item is a proposed “hoop” shed at the county Road Department in Drake for storing road material. Third on his list is construction of a new building for securing evidence at the Gasconade County Sheriff’s Department in Swiss.

Larimore suggested the elevator as the top item.

“I’m for the elevator; I always have been,” he said. But as for committing ARPA dollars for the exterior work at the courthouse, the Southern District commissioner balked. “We’d be better off to hold off on this until the county learns about outside funding,” he said. Lairmore didn’t get a chance to suggest any other projects before Schulte offered his motion to move forward with the elevator, with consulting engineer Archer-Elgin overseeing the project.

Schulte and Lairmore voted in favor of the motion with Holland casting the dissenting vote. The Commission then moved on to the broader motion offered by Holland.

But with the elevator having a rough estimate of a half-million dollars and the exterior work — including badly needed tuckpointing and porch renovations on the east-side and south-side entryways — estimated at $1.6 million, the three buildings that were part of the Commission’s plans were set aside for the time being. Those include the hoop shed and a wash building at the Road Department and the storage/evidence building at the Sheriff’s Department.

Just how close county officials are in their estimate of $2.1 million for the work is unclear: Formal bids have yet to be received on the construction cost for the elevator. And, as Schulte noted, there could be change orders throughout the project that would affect the final cost.

What that means is that it’s unclear just how much ARPA money will be available to allocate to the nearly two dozen applicants, most of which have been waiting more than a year to find out if they’re going to get any of the money in a second round of distribution of the federal funds. During the allocation process of the first $1.4-million allotment, about $600,000 was distributed, which meant the county had about $2.3 million in the bank after the second $1.4-million allocation was received.

Of the applications filed for the second round of distribution, the total amount being requested is $1.4 million. Based on the estimates discussed Thursday, only about $300,000 — or one-fifth of the amount being requested —would be available for distribution.