Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Building Maintenance And Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Consultants: Justice Center has "good bones" but needs HVAC, plumbing and space fixes
Summary
Willdan and architects told Elbert County commissioners the Justice Center’s structure is sound but the HVAC is residential in design and nearing 20 years old, the nurse's office is unsafe at 8x7 feet, restroom and reception layouts are inefficient and the armory should be expanded to improve safety and SWAT response times.
Consultants from Willdan and architect Wells Squire told the Elbert County Board of County Commissioners on July 15 that the Justice Center has "good bones," but that a cluster of infrastructure and space problems are constraining operations and staff safety.
"The mechanical system out here was really a residential mechanical, not a commercial mechanical," Willdan engineer Zoe Warf said, summarizing field findings. Logan Nissenson, the HVAC engineer, noted rooftop units that serve courthouse spaces were installed around 2007 and are approaching the typical 15–20 year expected service life.
Consultants recommended replacing or consolidating disparate furnace rooms, re‑zoning HVAC to match a new office layout, retro‑commissioning to verify airflow, and installing a building management system to centralize controls. To resolve courtroom acoustics problems they proposed a duct silencer and to address nurse‑station safety they proposed taking over an adjacent mechanical room (after relocating equipment) to roughly double the nurse office footprint.
"It's super small — 8 feet by 7 feet — it's just not a safe environment for the nurse," Zoe Warf said while presenting a plan to relocate the nurse’s desk toward the door and add a partition to preserve HIPAA privacy.
The team also proposed restroom reconfigurations in the sheriff’s area to add ADA‑compliant stalls and increase capacity for staff, and repurposing underused lobby and mechanical space into reception cubicles and storage. To improve armory operations, consultants proposed moving the armory from an interior 86‑square‑foot room into an exterior ~200‑square‑foot space to allow easier vehicle access and faster equipment loading.
"Two and a half times the space you have now," Hensler said of the proposed armory, noting that quicker access could cut SWAT mobilization times.
Consultants cautioned that asbestos and mold testing are gating items; an incomplete 2004 asbestos survey requires current sampling before final design. They recommended a phased approach that could yield shovel‑ready solutions within a year if abatement and subsurface work are manageable.
Next steps: Willdan will complete targeted asbestos and mold sampling, incorporate those results into an investment‑grade audit with preliminary cost ranges and sequencing, and return to county leadership with a recommended phased implementation plan. No funding or construction decisions were made at the meeting.
