Woodbury County sets Dec. 9 bids, authorizes staff for LEC demolition at 407 7th Street

The Woodbury County board on a unanimous vote set the timetable and administrative steps for the planned demolition of the Law Enforcement Center at 407 7th Street. The board approved a Dec. 9 schedule to open bids at 3:00 p.m. and to receive and award the contract at 4:40 p.m. in the county courthouse board room.

Building services representative Kenny Smits told the board the project had strong interest at a pre-bid walk-through earlier the same day. "I'm happy to announce that we had I don't know the exact number, but around 20 different contracting firms that came to that walk through," Smits said. The board moved and passed the motions to set the dates and authorize officials to handle bid submissions; the votes were recorded as 5-0 for each motion.

At the meeting, CMBA Architects' Terry Glade said the bid documents stipulate the demolition and associated work must be completed by the end of March 2026, but she cautioned that weather — particularly the ability to properly compact soils — could affect the schedule. "Weather could play a factor in that, just as far as getting the soils compacted back in there properly," Glade said.

The board explicitly authorized the county auditor or the auditor's representative and/or the building services director to open bid submissions, a procedural step the board said would maintain transparency in the procurement process. No members of the public spoke during the project's public hearing, and the board closed the hearing without comment.