TIFFIN - The battle over the fate of the 1884 Seneca County Courthouse is about to move into yet another legal arena.

The Seneca County Board of Commissioners authorized county Prosecutor Derek Devine yesterday to sue the city of Tiffin for denying the county's application to raze the historic downtown courthouse.

The commissioners - who have repeatedly blasted local preservationists for taking the county to court to stop the demolition of the courthouse in Tiffin - plan to ask the Seneca County Court of Common Pleas to determine whether Tiffin's Architectural Board of Review has the right to block the county from demolishing the building, which is in the city's historic district.

The commissioners have been considering options for restoring the building with grant money.

For nearly two years, the courthouse has wavered on the brink of demolition as some Seneca County residents have fought to preserve the building that has stood in the center of Tiffin's downtown district for 125 years.