Commissioners approve $139,590 electrical change order for courthouse renovations

The Lebanon County Board of Commissioners approved a $139,590 change order Sept. 18 to finish electrical work for phase 1A of courthouse renovations, moving the phase’s estimated total to $643,811 — about $62,561 above earlier per‑square‑foot estimates. Joe (project representative) told commissioners the general contractor, Funk Construction, submitted a change‑order add after the county requested price proposals from both Funk and the mechanical prime contractor, Shannon Smith Inc. Funk’s number included a competitively priced local electrical subcontractor and was the lowest of the two proposals the county solicited after the initial bid process produced no electrical bids. Commissioners were told the revised phase total of $643,811 compares with a prior high estimate of about $581,250 and that the increase moves the phase’s per‑square‑foot cost toward the higher end of comparable renovation projects in neighboring counties. Why it matters: the work reconfigures the public defender and assessment office spaces and is the start of a multi‑phase, multi‑year renovation intended to use consistent multiple prime contractors across later phases. Formal action: the board moved, seconded and approved the change order by voice vote. No roll‑call tally was recorded in the transcript. Questions from commissioners focused on the bidding process and whether both contractors had been given equal opportunity to propose; staff said both were given the specifications and both returned numbers within roughly $3,000 of each other on the electrical portion. Ending: county staff said the project will proceed to subsequent phases with the goal of retaining consistent prime contractors to reduce mobilization costs across the multi‑year schedule.