Haywood County commissioners decided this week to begin soliciting resumes from architects to renovate and restore the historic courthouse on Main Street in Waynesville.

Commissioners envision a functional workspace including modern office amenities — such as elevators, a sprinkler system and ample outlets for computers — while retaining as many historic features of the courthouse as possible.

“I want to see the courtroom perfectly restored. I want to walk in there and think it’s 1932,” Commissioner Mary Ann Enloe said of the second floor courtroom.

The courthouse will be used for county offices, possibly consolidating some of the satellite buildings housing the planning department, economic development commission, tourism development authority, election board and others.

“This project is a blend of creating functional space and historical restoration,” Chairman Mark Swanger said.

Renovating the historic courthouse has been put on back burner twice since its inclusion more than five years ago in the same master plan that called for building a new justice center, jail and sheriff’s office. Outcry over the price tag of the new justice center initially derailed the historic courthouse. County commissioners dedicated much of their political energy to the controversial justice center — pushing to get a loan approved and construction contract cemented before the pending 2002 commissioners election could potentially overturn the narrow pro-justice center majority on the board at the time.

The new jail and sheriff’s office were also put on the back burner due to controversy over the justice center. Following the 2002 election, three of the five commissioners were replaced. The new board pursued a new jail and sheriff’s office, which were approved by voters in an $11 million bond referendum in 2003.

In 2004, the commissioners returned to the topic of historic courthouse renovations. The county still had an outstanding contract with the same Florida architect firm that designed the justice center, and they were asked to present a preliminary design.

The design — based on nearly four-year-old instructions from the county administration and the former county board — focused on renovating the historic building with function as the ultimate goal. Members of the Haywood County Historical Commission urged commissioners to place historical restoration on equal footing with functionality.

The commissioners — some of whom were less than enamored with the architects due to the justice center fallout — decided to terminate their contract and find another firm that specializes in historic restorations. They decided to wait until the new justice center and jail were finished before seeking such a firm. Once those court and law enforcement functions were moved out of the courthouse, it would be easier to analyze how to make the most of the space.

That time has now arrived. Haywood County commissioners will hold a public meeting at 4 p.m. on Monday, June 6, to review architects’ resumes. Based on the resumes, they will select a handful to make verbal presentations to the commissioners. The commissioners will give the historical commission copies of all the resumes and invite them to be at the resume review meeting.

“This building belongs to the people of Haywood County, and we want their input,” Swanger said.

Enloe said the building should be treated with reverence.

“Commissioners will be very involved with this process. We are going to be hands-on,” Enloe said.

A rough estimate of the renovation costs was $4 million a few years ago. County offices, including the tax office and land records, would be relocated during renovations, which will entail complete rewiring and possibly re-plumbing. Doing the renovations piecemeal while shuffling workers from one part of the building to another would drag out the work and increase costs, Swagner said.