Setting up a limited liability corporation is the next step in efforts to mark the county’s bicentennial in 2016.

“We have to do that and then we have to appoint a board for the corporation and then apply for a 501c3,” Bill Pratt, county commissioner, said. “That will allow us to take donations and people can give and write it off of their taxes.”

Pratt is spearheading the efforts to re-create the original Lawrence County Courthouse that was at Burlington. His goal is to have the structure used as a community building for that part of the county.

“We will have to make it a little bigger than what it was originally so it can accommodate a community building,” he said.

The original structure was 35-by-35, but Pratt believes that length will have to be doubled.

“That will capture the same kind of look and it will have a useful purpose afterwards,” he said.

The commissioner envisions the building being used as a senior center and site for the free summer lunches for students.

Recently the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation purchased about half an acre near the Burlington Commons park for $35,000 from Cheryl and Randall Evans.

“The LEDC will transfer that to the port authority, which is an arm of the county commission,” Pratt said.

No tax dollars were used for the purchase of the land, the commissioner said.

A Wheelersburg consultant will do a rendering of the building free of charge.

“If he wants the job, he will go ahead and do the actual architectural work,” Pratt said. “It will take a lot of effort and a lot of time, but it is a project worth taking on.”