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County outlines phased coroner lab plan, HVAC rebid and jail-pod work during facilities update
Summary
Kootenai County staff presented concept designs and preliminary budgets for a phased coroner autopsy lab, said admin HVAC bids exceeded budget and recommended a re-bid using a CMGC approach, and reported mobilization of jail-pod work and planned chiller replacement for the old Justice Building.
Kootenai County Director of Building and Grounds Jeff Folar briefed commissioners on multiple county facilities projects on April 15, including a concept plan for a certified coroner autopsy lab, options to re-bid an administrative HVAC replacement after bids exceeded the budget, the start of work on jail pods, and plans to replace an aging chiller at the old Justice Building.
Folar described the coroner lab concept for space in the Pierce Clegg Building that would include an interior autopsy area, an isolation room and an isolation cooler to meet certification requirements. The concept is phased: staff would target getting two operating autopsy stations functioning while roughing in space for a possible third station and reserving space for a future CT lab. Folar said county staff had toured the Spokane coroner's facility and that the current planning budget estimate, based on an initial rough estimate, was $1,468,000 including design. He said the county plans to issue a construction-manager-at-risk (CMGC) request for qualifications to obtain a guaranteed maximum price; the RFQ had been prepped with legal and was slated to go out publicly the following week.
Folar warned staffing could lag construction. "I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up getting built, but not staffed for quite some time because of the cost," he said, noting staffing and operational funding remained separate issues.
On the administrative building HVAC, Folar said bids returned at $2,100,000 against a $2,000,000 budget and that the construction-only portion had been expected to be closer to $1,700,000. Because the project includes 72 ceiling units and work would affect occupied offices (including Department of Motor Vehicles and licensing areas), he recommended re-bidding under a CMGC model to bring a general contractor on earlier to help scope, sequence and reduce night-work costs; staff estimated that approach could lower costs by a couple hundred thousand dollars.
On jail work, Folar said contractor Sletten had mobilized, with curb and sidewalk work on Government Way starting next week, followed by footings for recreation yards and internal metal framing. For the old Justice Building, Folar said staff planned to replace the ground chiller and air handler and to bid an alternate for a rooftop unit; that bid package was scheduled to go out April 18. He also told commissioners that integrating the old building onto the newer building's Trina control system would cost about $129,000 and was not in the original budget but could be considered as part of future planning.
No formal votes were taken during the facilities update; staff said they would proceed with the RFQ for CMGC on the coroner project and re-bid the admin HVAC using the CMGC approach.
Ending: Staff will issue the coroner lab CMGC RFQ, re-bid the admin HVAC under CMGC procurement, begin jail-pod site work as scheduled and return with GMP pricing and bid results for commissioner action.
