(La Porte, IN) - The courthouse in downtown La Porte will reopen Wednesday after a failure with the heating system has been fixed.

It was closed Tuesday when a mechanical problem that kept the courthouse from being properly heated was discovered before sunrise.

La Porte County Commission President Connie Gramarossa said she decided to give courthouse employees the day off instead of subjecting them to indoor temperatures in the upper 50s.

She said the county government maintenance crew had the heating system working properly again at about 2:30 p.m.

Gramrossa said all county government-owned structures have been regularly checked since the recent bitter cold weather set in, to make sure the extremely cold temperatures haven’t caused any problems.

"We have been going out and checking all of our buildings and this is the only building we're having some issues with," she said.