This coming Tuesday is election day.

Not a lot going on, but some issues on the ballot are important for the counties they are in.

In Clark County, Missouri, two issues are on the ballot concerning the historic courthouse.

Just about every old building has squeaky floors and cramped space, but the Clark County Commissioners and a Courthouse Committee believe this courthouse has outlived its usefulness.

"We really have poor security on entry to the courtroom. All the prisoners, jury, and spectators come through the one main door. It is dangerous for the judge and spectators to have prisoners walking through their seating area," says Commissioner Jerry Neyens.

So the Commission and Committee want voters to approve two tax issues on the ballot that will let them tear down this courthouse, which was built in 1871. One issue asks for a property tax increase, the other a sales tax increase. The reason for two issues is commissioners didn't want all of the burden to fall to the homeowners, so they decided to go for the half cent sales tax too. For the property tax issue, here's the example I was given. If your home is valued at 50 thousand dollars, your taxes would go up $9.50 a year. Both issues need to pass in order for the plan to go forward. If that happens, a new courthouse would be built and would be big enough to house all the courthouse offices and the offices that are currently across the street in the courthouse annex. If neither issue passes, or just one does...

"We're between a rock and a hard spot. We really have no alternative at this time. There is no alternative. This issue has to pass," says Neyens.

Not everyone supports the ballot issues.

"I don't want the courthouse to be torn down because not only is it significant for Clark County, it's one of our few remaining historical buildings. It's also significant for the state of Missouri," says Carla Derrick.

Carla Derrick is a community volunteer who tells me the courthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places. It has a unique architectural style of the 1800s that no longer exists in the Show Me State.

"It's colonial revival. A beautiful building when it was built. It has deteriorated, but we've been told it can be salvaged," says Derrick.

Derrick would rather save the courthouse and build on an annex to bring all of the offices into one. She says two engineers have told her the building can be restored. She says she realizes the County Commissioners inherited the problem, but doesn't feel they have looked at all of the options.

Jerry Neyens says the commissioners plan to salvage anything from the historic courthouse and put it into the new one if the issues pass on Tuesday.