Courtroom 5C bid opens; county files grant for old courthouse remediation

The county finance director told the committee that bids for the Courtroom 5C construction opened recently and that the award will be presented to the budget committee for a disposition decision. Staff clarified that the current bid discussed at the meeting was for construction rather than design work.

Separately, staff reported that the county is preparing a grant application for the old courthouse renovation; phase 1 work described in the application would cover mold remediation, basement encapsulation and drainage fixes. Staff said phase 2 would address tenant fit-out and could be pursued if a potential subcommittee forms to plan tenant needs.

Commissioners asked for clarification about why some projects had been split into phases and why bids exceeded earlier estimates. Staff explained that some bids came in over budget and that projects were split so work could be funded across fiscal years; the county also used some in-house highway department capacity for limited items where feasible. Staff said contractors and scheduling issues — including utility relocation — affected timing. Estimated total timelines for multi-phase projects were discussed in general terms; a staff estimate noted 8 to 9 months for combined phases in one project example.

Staff indicated additional procurement steps and potential external design expertise for the county administration building system work; the original architect recommended hiring a firm with deeper specialization to advise options rather than continuing only with patch work.