Madison County has hired a firm to represent its interests as it weighs options for a new courthouse.

Commissioners agreed Wednesday to contract with Mobile-based Volkert Inc. as construction program manager for the new courthouse project. Volkert was one of five firms commissioners interviewed in January to take on the task.

A construction program manager represents the interests of a project’s owner – in this case, Madison County – through some or all of the planning and building processes. Typical services include consulting on construction solicitations and bids, auditing procurement costs, and organizing the relocation of offices and personnel.

Madison County will pay Volkert $58,500 per month until construction begins.

Officials have said for years that a new courthouse is needed as maintenance requirements, space and staffing needs have been increasing during Madison County and Huntsville’s growth.

In April, commissioners were presented a feasibility study that outlined four possibilities to replace the current courthouse, two of which would involve a new building on Courthouse Square.

The feasibility study’s first option would raze and rebuild the courthouse on the existing Courthouse Square parcel downtown. The second would split the county’s administrative and judicial functions between a “justice annex” to be built nearby and a new, smaller courthouse on the square.

Both would include space for 12 circuit courtrooms and seven more for district and probate courts, and both would significantly increase available square footage. The current courthouse encompasses about 198,000 usable square feet, the study notes, but either plan calls for about 20% more space.

At minimum, the county is looking at a $154 million project that would take at least five years to complete. Two other proposals outlined by consultant Matheny Goldmon Architecture and Interiors would result in only negligible savings while removing a courthouse presence from the square, a prospect that drew little enthusiasm from commissioners in April.

No design plans have yet been put forward.

“We got the feasibility study back, and we went through the process of interviewing our owners’ rep folks,” Chairman Mac McCutcheon said. “This is another step moving in that direction.”