ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — If you’ve been to the Ector County Courthouse, you may go to sit on a jury, handle legal troubles or even get married. But there is also a possibility you could be trapped in an elevator.
“Its getting to the point where it seems like our elevators are almost down more than they’re up,” said Director of Building Maintenance Billy Carrigan.
The Ector County Courthouse is a necessity to the community, but accessibility has been a question for decades.
On Tuesday, Carrigan requested that the Ector County commissioners upgrade the elevators for a price tag of nearly $1 million.
"We need the elevators at the courthouse for the jurors that comes to, you know, serve on the juries and the trials," Carrigan said. "Some of them have, you know, handicap accessibility needs and so they can't take the stairs. So it's very important that we have the elevators for that reason alone."
The request was tabled for the time being, but in the last month alone four incidents have happened with the elevators.
“We have had instances where the elevators get stuck between floors, and depending on exactly where it's stuck if it's only a foot or so from the floor," Carrigan said. "You know, a person can actually take a step up and get out with assistance from someone. But we have had a few instances where they were stuck to the point of having to have a ladder to slide down into the elevator and help the people crawl out and get them out.”
Carrigan recounts one family and their kids experiencing fear and stress when they were stuck. However, safety precautions and procedures are in place.
“Deputy sheriffs at the courthouse that you know they actually do that when it happens," Carrigan said. "You know we have a fire alarm on the elevator so if somebody gets trapped, they put some alarm button is exit signal notifies. You know the deputies on duty normally there's deputies right there in front of the elevator.”
Even though the request was not approved at court on Tuesday, that doesn't mean it is off the commissioners' radar.
“We will be coming into a budget session you know, in October," Carrigan said. "So you know even if we don't do something at this point, I'll bring it up again and see if we can push it through the end. But you know, we do have to be very careful about how we spend the money. And before we get that money for him for the projects that we do in the county.”
Carrigan also said that bringing up the possibility of an upgrade is just the first step in alleviating the problems the court has.
And because the courthouse is not the only county building that needs assistance, all they can do for now is continue their routine repairs.