Work on county office complex to begin soon

Work will be beginning soon on a new county office complex, but the cost estimates show a possible overall project increase of up to $170,000.

The county opened bids last Friday on renovations, County Manager Don Adams told the board. “The intent was trying to get the building under roof and dried in for winter,” Adams said.

However, the county only received two bids for reinforcing the building’s cracked foundational basement wall, which is the first step in working on the building. That bid of $127,332 from Dave’s Construction was higher than anticipated, Adams said.

Work on the roof repairs for the building will now have to wait until spring, based on talks with the roofing contractors, Adams noted. That work will likely begin around April 1.

As an incentive to push the work ahead, the county has planned to start work on the courthouse by fall of 2005. Some of that building’s occupants, including the register of deeds and tax office will need to be moved to the new administration building so work can be done in the courthouse.

“In order to meet with that schedule, we need to repair the basement wall as soon as possible,” Adams said.

On hand for the meeting was Frank Randall of Hemphill and Associates, architect for the project.

Randall said the bids for the work were split up to help keep the work on schedule. However, bids should be received on the remainder of the work by February, all under one contract.

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