Though still far from a reality, the vision of what purpose a renovated historic courthouse might serve for the residents, visitors, and officials of Cass County is slowly becoming clearer.

The Historic Courthouse Committee convened for the first time in several months Wednesday morning, with Commissioners Bernie Williamson and Roseann Marchetti updating the public on the current progress of the stabilization project as well as current talks about the potential uses  for a restored building.

The committee last came together in October, where the subjected dominated much of the discussion.

The question of how to utilize the space inside the 100-plus-year-old Cassopolis Courthouse has been near the forefront of the renovation project since it began in earnest last year. Prior to board of commissioners committing funds towards stabilizing the ailing building last March, the courthouse committee sent out a questionnaire to county residents, asking what they would like to see from a restored building.

“One of the things that we looked at was trying to comply with the requests of the people we received in the questionnaire,” Williamson said. “There were a number of proposed uses, some of which were county uses, some of which community support uses, and some of which were business based.”

At the moment, the county is considering occupying at least a portion of the building, should the restoration process be completed. Among the offices that could move from their current space next door at the county annex are the administrator, information systems, drain commissioner, equalization, and treasurer, Williamson said.

“We’re looking at ways to increase efficiency, decrease cost and expand on availability of service to the community,” Williamson said. “With a larger, centralized staff we can be open more often, have more backup, that kind of thing.”

County officials have held initial conversations with several local entities, including the Cassopolis Post Office, the Cass County Transportation Authority, and Cassopolis Public Schools about utilizing the vacant space within the annex building should a move take place, though nothing concrete has been arranged, Williamson said.

“That is the direction we were going, how can we make this a support system not just for the county, but for the village, for the schools and even perhaps for the townships,” Williamson said. “Along those same lines, perhaps the county could provide expanded service to the townships, that would help them instead of having to recreate the wheel for all 15 townships.”

Once those uses are solidified, it will be easier to determine how the remaining space inside the courthouse could be used by private entities, whether it be as a restaurant, wedding chapel or tourist destination, she added.

“There are so many courthouses I’ve seen that don’t even come close to ours, as far as the exterior look of them,” Marchetti said.