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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: April 1, 2025 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 8-e <br /> SUBJECT: Approval of Professional Services Agreement for Historic Courthouse Square <br /> Building and Grounds Improvements <br /> DEPARTMENT: Asset Management Services <br /> (AMS), Department of <br /> Environmental, Agriculture, <br /> Parks and Recreation (DEAPR) <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> 1. Professional Services Contract Angel Barnes, 919.245.2628 <br /> 2. Professional Services Proposal Peter Sandbeck, 919.245.2517 <br /> Jovana Amaro, 919.245.2651 <br /> Alan Dorman, 919.245.2627 <br /> David Stancil, 919.245.2522 <br /> PURPOSE: To: <br /> 1) Approve the County entering into a professional services agreement with Joseph K. <br /> Oppermann — Architect, P.A., for the Historic Courthouse Square Building and Grounds <br /> Improvements; and <br /> 2) Authorize the County Manager to execute the Agreement, subject to final review by the <br /> County Attorney, and any subsequent amendments for contingent and unforeseen <br /> requirements up to the approved budget amount on behalf of the Board of County <br /> Commissioners. <br /> BACKGROUND: The historic Orange County Courthouse (built 1844-46) is widely recognized <br /> as one of the finest and best-preserved Greek Revival-style courthouses in the state. The <br /> handsome brick structure with its prominent original clock tower is the undisputed centerpiece of <br /> Hillsborough's historic district. Its hillside site, consisting of an entire block, has a long and <br /> significant history, beginning with the construction of the County's first courthouse on this site in <br /> 1757. A second courthouse dating to 1790 was built there, as were two (2)jail buildings and the <br /> office for the Town's mayor. The first courthouse and surrounding grounds figured prominently in <br /> North Carolina's history as the setting for numerous events leading up to the Regulator conflicts <br /> between 1768 and 1771. The courthouse is individually listed on the National Register of Historic <br /> Places, along with the surrounding grounds. <br /> The existing landscaping, plantings, and pedestrian amenities on the Old Courthouse Square are <br /> the products of several civic improvement projects, beginning with work done by the Works <br /> Progress Administration (WPA) during the 1930s when old stones from the walls of the 1837 jail <br /> building were repurposed to create the present network of attractive but uneven stone-paved <br />