Franklin County adopts plans, moves to award courthouse repointing contract to low bidder

Franklin County commissioners opened a public hearing and voted to adopt plans, specifications and the form of contract for the county courthouse repointing project, moving the project toward contract award. Facilities Director Doug told the board the county received four bids and recommended Vice State Masonry of East Moulding, Illinois as the responsible low bidder with a base bid of $948,872.

"We received 4 bids," Doug said, and added that Vice State Masonry had roughly 70 employees, about 60 in the field. Bids ranged up to roughly $1.37 million, according to the facilities director. After discussion the board moved to adopt resolution 25-76; the transcript records roll-call responses with Lukensmeyer and McVicker recorded as "Aye." The motion carried to the degree recorded in the public record.

Board members asked staff how many specially curved bricks the project might require. Doug said the crew can find additional units once work begins and estimated "there could be almost 400" special bricks needed. He told the board bricks can be bought in "cubes" of 500 and staff had discussed ordering two cubes so the contractor would not be delayed if additional curved units are discovered on inspection. Doug said that material allowances were factored into the price.

The board also discussed related procurement logistics, including contractor storage of stockpiled materials and sequencing to avoid substantial schedule delays. The public hearing was opened and closed during the session; no protest or alternate bid award was recorded in the transcript.

Next steps include finalizing the contract documents and proceeding with award consistent with the adopted resolution and county procurement rules. The transcript does not provide the final executed contract, payment schedule or completion dates.