NORWICH – Interior and exterior renovations, repairs, maintenance and safety measures have kept the Chenango County Buildings and Grounds Department extremely busy, particularly over the past two years.

Back in 2009, when department Director Julie Gates came on board, the downtown Norwich landscape around the venerable Chenagno County Courthouse began transforming, starting with the renovation of the former Sheriff’s Office and Jail on West Park Place into executive offices for the department of social services. The park, itself, received care and attention in conjunction with the volunteer Friends of the Parks group, and all but one side of the Greek Revival Chenango County Courthouse (erected in 1837) now sports a fresh coat of paint, including the Ionic columns.

Gates and her four person building maintenance staff are currently moving 1960s-era heavy metal walls into freed-up space in the former clerk of the board’s offices on the third floor of the County Office Building. The area will accommodate the county’s 12-person Probation Department. Probation and the district attorney’s office gained much needed space when the clerk, board chairman and attorney’s suite, and supervisor’s conference room took former DSS offices on the top floor of the 1991 wing.