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Kootenai County project rep reports minor construction changes, asks whether to accommodate five-justice bench
Summary
Turner & Townsend representative David Mendez reported several small construction changes to the Kootenai County justice building—two covered by project contingency and one he plans to approve—and asked commissioners whether to pursue a larger modification to allow a five-justice bench in a Superior Court courtroom.
David Mendez with Turner and Townsend updated the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 21 on recent construction adjustments to the county's justice building and asked whether the county wants to pursue a modification to accommodate a five-justice bench.
Mendez said some changes fell within the project's design or construction contingencies and that he intended to approve a contractor proposal for an elevator wiring change. “That’s an $11,323 change and I'm intending to approve that,” he said, adding he had verified the work against the plans and specifications. He explained the change was required because one elevator had been designated to run on battery backup in the drawings while the building has a standby generator; the elevator must be moved to run on the generator so it shares the appropriate circuits.
Mendez also reported an electrical-room layout adjustment after code review: “The code has, requires a certain door swing on all the electrical panels within a room. It didn't have its 36 inches it had 35 inches so we had to move a wall, on 2 floors,” which he said added about $5,000 to move those walls. He said those costs are expected to come out of the project's contingency pools, not increase the guaranteed maximum price.
County staff told commissioners the guaranteed maximum price included $800,000 in design contingency and $800,000 in contractor contingency, and that unused contingency would be returned to the county. Mendez noted he has authority to approve changes up to $25,000 as the owner's representative.
Separately, Mendez presented a request to modify one of the larger courtrooms so it can seat a five-justice panel for the Supreme Court when the court sits in Kootenai County. He said the contractor's “rough order of magnitude” for that work was reported in the meeting as “between $15,020,000 to accommodate that. I think it'll be closer to my $25,000 limit,” and asked whether commissioners want staff to continue pursuing final pricing and design sketches.
Commissioners discussed scheduling and use impacts if the county installs a bench that would be used by visiting justices. One commissioner noted the board meets in the same space and asked how often the Supreme Court sits locally; Mendez said he had asked the court for frequency information and would report back. He warned that if the bench is not finalized soon, the change could begin to affect the construction schedule within two to three weeks.
On furnishings, Mendez said he had budgeted $600,000 for furniture for the building and expected to be under that budget. He also gave the contractor's rough estimate for the specific courtroom modifications and furniture related to the five-justice bench (discussed above) and said he would provide updated pricing and sketches; commissioners scheduled a decision for the Feb. 4 meeting.
Mendez invited commissioners to tour the site and noted the third floor is nearly finished, with acoustical ceiling installation underway and other floors at varying stages of completion.
No formal motion or vote was taken on Jan. 21. Staff will return with updated pricing, final design sketches, and furniture quotes for a decision at a future meeting.
