HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A manual elevator at the Historic Reno County Courthouse hasn’t been working for awhile and the county has been looking at what to do since it is so old.

This elevator is original to the building, along with a majority of the associated wiring and mechanical controls, according to Maintenance Director Harlan Depew. He says it uses a large generator that converts AC power to run the DC motor. That piece of equipment failed.

Depew says they did find a company in Wichita that would be willing to rebuild the generator, but can’t guarantee how long it will work. The wiring and mechanical controls for the elevator are also old and brittle and could fail as well, which could mean spending lots of money.

This leaves them with two options, according to Depew. One is to remove the entire elevator and install a new one from top to bottom. The second is the partial modernization of the existing equipment.

Depew says he’ll recommend the second option when he meets with the Reno County Commission Tuesday morning at 9.