JEFFERSON —
Commissioners plan to separate the Prosecutor’s Office Civil Division roof project from what has been a package project that has drawn bids in excess of the county engineer’s estimate.
The board twice sought bids and twice rejected bids on a combined Old Courthouse and Civil Division Office roof project, estimated at $334,000. The lowest most-recent bid at $401,500 came from McCreary Roofing Co. of Erie, Pa.
County Administrator Janet Discher said she met with Kurt Gowins, a Smolen Engineering project manager, to discuss a new approach to the bidding. She said the project will be rebid as the Civil Division Office only because its roof is the most pressing of the two. Further, there are other repairs planned for the Prosecutor’s Office that cannot be completed until the roof work is complete.
Discher said the new bid specifications will return to the original plan of using a metal roof on that building. The second request for bids changed that specification to asphalt in hopes of eliciting lower bids. The courthouse roof project will be put on hold for a while, Discher said
Meanwhile, work is progressing on roofing and renovation projects on other county-owned buildings. Roofers are taking advantage of the recent hot dry spell to tackle the big project on the Justice Center and jail, activity that has brought strong odors to the courthouse campus. Relief won’t be coming anytime soon as the roof project on the Kinsman Building, north of the Courthouse complex, is scheduled to begin soon. McCreary Roofing will do the work.
A construction schedule has not been set for the Youth Detention Building, which is getting a new roof as well as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system upgrades. Discher said a chicken-or-the-egg scenario has come up at that site because the HVAC work will involve replacing units on the roof, and that work could disturb any new roofing work done there. The HVAC portion of the project has not been awarded.
The new parking lot at the agriculture building on Wall Street is complete, but a problem with water entering the electrical box has resurfaced. Discher said that a heavy rainstorm during the time gutters were off the building resulted in water leaking into the electrical panel. She said the gutters were left off while a change order was being processed to pay for the replacement of rotted fascia boards. Discher said the county will have to pay to repair the electrical system.
Interior painting of the Justice Center is moving forward, and Discher is seeking a qualified contractor for interior painting in the old Courthouse, which involves removing peeling paint from tin ceilings. Discher has been unable to find a local painter qualified to do that work.
Once the county gets its roofing projects completed, it can seek bids for brick and other exterior repairs.
“I’m really hoping to move on getting the pointing of the brick done yet this year,” she told the board.
The county borrowed $3 million last year to address myriad issues that threaten the structural integrity of county-owned buildings. About $1.7 million of that money already has been appropriated for the projects.
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