Haywood County’s historic courthouse doesn’t just harbor ghosts, as alleged by former workers on the property — it’s all but become one itself.

The 100-year-old building has sat deserted since renovations to it were halted May 12, a full two and a half months ago. That was the day the county terminated its contract with project contractor KMD Construction.

Since then, the county has been able to do little but wait until the bonding company who insured the project locates another contracting firm to finish the job.

County Manager David Cotton said progress on the courthouse has completely stopped since the county notified KMD of the termination of its contract.

“Nothing’s really happened since we handed them the letter,” he said.

The county appears to be trying to make the best of the situation. Flags from the various countries represented at the Folkmoot USA international festival line the roof over the entrance, surrounded by chain link fence and construction debris.

The county’s proud of that building, and seems to want to keep it in the loop during various summer festivities. But there’s only so much that can be done. The truth is that a beautifully renovated courthouse will no longer be the backdrop for a much-anticipated commemoration of the county’s bicentennial. And county employees who were looking forward to coming back to work in newly renovated offices will have to stay put in temporary housing.

Haywood decided to terminate its contract after a lack of skilled workers, changes in leadership, and a consistent inability to meet deadlines caused KMD’s work on the courthouse to fall months behind schedule.

KMD was given a notice to proceed with its work on Feb. 21, 2007. The project was to be completed by May 16 of this year. When KMD signaled that would be impossible, the county extended the deadline to June 16.

The county couldn’t wait that long, however. At the time the contract was terminated, the project architect, PBCL, relayed that KMD’s work on the courthouse was less than 80 percent complete. Today, Cotton puts that number at closer to 60 percent. It could be months before the project is finished, which can only happen after a new contractor is found.

The county forked over $3.6 million of its $6.8 million contract with KMD, and has the rest of that money to give to another contractor once one is located.

Many think the county is the culprit in the delay in locating another contractor, but it’s not Haywood County’s responsibility to do that. In general, public projects have a performance bond attached to them, purchased by the contractor. The bond acts as insurance to assure the job is completed as designed. If a contractor fails to meet its obligations, it’s up to the bonding company to assume the damages and find another contractor.

The county is currently in negotiations with the bonding company, which Cotton couldn’t elaborate on. The dialogue over the courthouse has taken place in closed session out of public view.

Cotton would say he’d like to see the project go forward.

“The county would like to see the project moving again and completed so that we can open up there for business,” he said.