(Tiffin, OH) There's now a county courthouse unlike any other in Ohio.
Tiffin and Seneca County officials this week dedicated what will be called the Justice Center of Seneca County-- the result of a collaboration that won out over controversy. There was public outcry a few years back when county commissioners decided to tear down the old courthouse, meaning the loss of a iconic building in the Tiffin city square.
But what was to come puts every city and county legal service under one roof. The $14 million, four-story courthouse will actually save each local government up to $180,000 per year in utilities and security costs.
While preservationists weren't happy about the loss of the historic courthouse, part of the past was preserved-- the old clock in the courthouse spire restored and reinstalled in the new building. Officials even buried a time capsule of what life is like today in Tiffin, to be opened fifty years from now.