County to Offer the Precinct Courthouse Back to Round Top – With Stipulations

The Fayette County Commissioners Court hopes to strike a deal with the Town of Round Top concerning the future of the old precinct courthouse on the Round Top Town Square.

At a meeting last Thursday, Feb. 27, Commissioners voted to offer the Town a deed for the property, which will end any questions over who owns the courthouse. But the deed will include restrictions to prohibit the demolition of the historic building and preserve the interests of the Do Your Duty Club and the Round Top Rifle Association.

This latest move could hopefully resolve the quarrel that arose back in January after Round Top Mayor Judith Vincent held a town hall meeting about renovations on the courthouse square. The Record did not attend that meeting, but residents who did say the mayor discussed the possibility of tearing down and rebuilding the century-old courthouse. Vincent later told the Record the Town Council would only pursue that option in a worst-case scenario, depending on a structural analysis.

Since then, several Round Top-area residents have petitioned the Fayette County Commissioners Court to pursue a historical designation for the Round Top courthouse in hopes of preventing any demolition. In addition, errors have come to light in the 1984 deed that purported to transfer ownership of the courthouse from the County to the Town of Round Top. There is no record of the Commissioners Court ever approving that deed.

Last Thursday, the Commissioners Court met again to discuss the future of the Round Top courthouse. At the meeting, Round Top Alderman Owen Massey read a letter from Mayor Judith Vincent. Massey said Vincent could not attend the Commissioners Court meeting because she was busy planning the town’s Texas Independence Day Celebration set for Sunday, March 2.

In the letter, Vincent said the town has maintained and improved the courthouse for the past 41 years.

“Recently, we began a process seeking to restore and preserve the courthouse, an effort that unfortunately sparked today’s misplaced concern,” the letter stated. “Now the county tells us that they made an error in 1984 and that today the county still owns the courthouse, not the Town of Round Top.”

The letter went on to say, “Today we ask, and hope, that the county will maintain the status quo of the last four decades and allow the courthouse to continue to serve our community with town council meetings and other community uses.”

She concluded the letter by writing, “Given today’s discussion, we welcome and applaud the well-deserved interest in the county seeking a historical designation for the Round Top Courthouse. Having started early planning for restoration ourselves, we understand the substantial work by the county that will be a prerequisite to obtain a historical designation. Your willingness to consider undertaking this significant effort and expense is greatly appreciated by the Town of Round Top and the surrounding community. We look forward to your success.”

Brenda Stardig, President of the Round Top Do Your Duty (DYD) Club, spoke about her organization’s relationship with the Courthouse. A group of Round Top ladies started the DYD Club in 1935 with a mission to maintain and beautify the courthouse grounds in Round Top.

“The women and members of the Round Top Do Your Duty Club have done their duty for decades on the square,” she said. “We’d like to continue to do so, be involved and engaged, and respect the ones served before us and all their contributions. We’d like to continue to be at the table.”

Long-time DYD member Betty Sacks said that until 2018, the Club gave half of its fundraising proceeds to the Town of Round Top for upkeep of the courthouse.

“In 2018 we were informed the Town no longer wanted our monies,” Sacks said. “That was the beginning of the end of the DYD, in their sense by saying they don’t need our funds, they’re telling us, ‘We don’t need you on the square.’” Her husband, Ronny Sacks, served on the Round Top Town Council for 20 years. Sacks told the Commissioners that during his time on the Council, the Town replaced the courthouse’s old pine siding with Hardie Plank. They also replaced the windows.

“We did not have enough money at that time, and here comes the DYD Club,” Sacks said. “DYD bequeathed to the town $25,000 for the upkeep of Town Hall.

“In my opinion, the Town Hall is structurally sound,” he added. “It’s very useful. To say the building has been neglected for 90 years is virtually untrue.”

Betty Sacks added that in 2018, the DYD compiled a spreadsheet of contributions the club made to the town for upkeep of the courthouse. At that time, she said, the club identified $178,000 in contributions over the years towards upkeep of the courthouse.

Pct. 4 Commissioner Drew Brossmann asked Massey and other Town officials who were present, “Are y’all committed to making sure this courthouse never gets torn down?”

“I think we’re committed to, again, seeking the historical designation that the building deserves,” Massey said.

Several Round Top area residents on the other side of the room asked for a “yes” or “no” response. At that point, Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom asked, “What do y’all want us to do? What is the Do Your Duty’s plan, what do you think would be the best plan of action? And what is the Town of Round Top’s best plan of action?”

“We’re not disputing the ownership of the courthouse,” Massey said. “The town doesn’t own it. It’s the county’s courthouse. We look forward to the county seeking the historical designation.”

“In the conversations that I’ve been included in, I think the greater Round Top area would like to make sure they’re at the table, that they’re included in any decision about the courthouse,” Stardig said.

Stardig asked the County to place some deed restrictions for the property, “that would give us some guardrails so that confidence could be put back.”

The Court recessed and went into a closed, executive session for about 20 minutes. Upon returning, County Judge Dan Mueller asked County Attorney James Herbrich address the audience.

“What I’m hearing from everybody is the City of Round Top wants this piece of property back, they want the deed back,” Herbrich said. “I’m hearing from Do Your Duty that they want access to this building. They want to continue to be in existence. They have been a great resource of the County. We’ve always allowed them to take care of this building. We’ve always known we owned this building, and they’ve done a great job. So we don’t want to close out Do Your Duty from this courthouse.”

Herbrich went on to say that the County intended to give the courthouse to the Town of Round Top in the early 1980s.

“We’d like to give the courthouse, whatever we own, back to the City of Round Top,” Herbrich said. “We want to protect Do Your Duty, and we want to protect the Round Top Rifle Association.”

The Round Top Rifle Association hosts the annual July 4 celebration on the courthouse square, which claims to be the longest-running Independence Day celebration west of the Mississippi River.

“With that said, I’ll be preparing a deed for the Court to consider,” Herbrich said. “There will be some deed restrictions in that deed that will protect Do Your Duty and Round Top Rifle Association. And it will protect the courthouse.”

Herbrich said he’ll present the deed to the Commissioners Court for consideration at a future meeting.

The Commissioners voted unanimously to authorize Herbrich to prepare the deed (with the exception of Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff, who was absent from the meeting).