At a meeting posted July 25, 2025, the Public Building Authority Advisory Board received updates on courthouse elevator repairs and progress on ARPA-funded renovations at the ICB and the courthouse annex.

The updates matter because elevator outages affect public access, detainee movements and elected officials' use of courthouse facilities. Board members asked for clearer advance notice to departments and elected officials about planned shutdowns.

Bill, the owner’s representative for the ARPA projects, told the board that the three passenger elevators in the courthouse were made operable late Saturday evening and that work on the jail elevator continues to have operational issues and should be used sparingly. Bill said the ICB project had reached a milestone: “the final brace frame was installed,” and that glass, glazing and exterior demo activities will begin when the schedule for those trades is finalized. He also reported that asbestos abatement is complete on multiple floors, plumbing is coming back in on the fourth floor, and that the behavioral-health facility foundations and underground plumbing are progressing with dry weather.

Board members pressed for notice to staff and elected officials after some were surprised by elevator shutdowns; a board member asked that written notice be sent to departments a week before closures. Board discussion clarified that the project team intends to maintain required emergency access while sequencing work so that at least two passenger elevators remain usable for most of the work. The project team said it will provide a revised schedule and try to issue a one-week advance notice before each phase.

On timing, Bill reported multiple near-term and midterm milestones: the original ICB scope is anticipated to be substantially complete around Sept. 1, with final commissioning within two weeks after that. He said teams plan an 8-to-10-week timeframe to install freeze-protection valves on units to protect systems for winter. For the courthouse annex elevator work, staff said the West bank of elevators is expected to be completed by Dec. 31 of the current calendar year; the East bank work is anticipated to finish by June 30 of the following year, and the second bank may proceed more quickly once crews have learned the site conditions.

Board members and staff discussed operational details while the East-side shutdowns are staged. The project team emphasized that during much of the work three public elevators will remain available; for roughly six months of the phased program the public will have two public elevators available while one bank is taken offline. Staff also noted a new freight elevator and a new public elevator in a vacant shaft will be used as part of the sequence.

Bill also reported on other ARPA-funded items tied to the courthouse work: emergency operations spaces, furniture solicitations for sheriff’s needs (quotes were expected from four or five vendors), and removal of a buried oil tank that had been awarded for removal and was scheduled to start the week of the meeting. For the emergency operations and ARPA scopes, Bill said the combined schedules remain on track for the current completion dates.

The board moved and approved routine receipt of the owner’s reports during the meeting. No binding policy change or budget appropriation was made during the elevator and ARPA project updates; the actions were acceptance of staff reports and scheduling direction.

The project team said it will return with updated schedules and with the furniture-quote results at the next meeting. Members asked staff to confirm which elevators staff and facility workers should use for detainee transports while the jail elevator remains limited and to provide a clearer plug-in/power status for fans and equipment in the affected elevator cabs.

The board adjourned after routine business.