Justice Center nears completion; gate delivery and commissioning remain

The Justice Center Public Safety Committee was told the Justice Center construction project is effectively complete and moving into final testing and commissioning.

County staff member Jaren Dolwater reported the project is about 99.03% complete and that testing and coordination of systems will continue. Dolwater said the architect and consultants will be on site the week of Sept. 22 to review, test and verify systems prior to declaring substantial completion.

Dolwater said the installation of a gate is the current schedule hold-up; the product is expected to be available Oct. 9 and much of the work will be staged so final field verification and sign‑off can proceed quickly. He also said work on exterior stairs that was approved in a prior change order will begin this week.

During questions, committee members raised a complaint about bird droppings on exterior ledges. Dolwater said staff asked the contractor for a conventional physical solution such as bird spikes, but that accessing all high ledges made that approach costly. Instead, staff sourced an ultrasonic bird‑deterrent system that Dolwater said was “probably less than $6,700” and that the county has ordered to test as an alternative to the higher‑cost spike installation.

Dolwater reported the contract value, including the previously approved change order, as $95,166,117.11 and reiterated the project status and schedule items. He closed by saying there are no additional change orders before the committee at this time.

Committee Chairman Tim Horner called for questions; none delayed the project or prompted a vote.

The committee will revisit the item if additional change orders or schedule impacts arise.