Nov. 14—After a couple of weeks of working with contractors the county commissioners and county council voted to accept the low bids for the county courthouse project.
Taber-Owens of Washington will be the general contractor on the project which involves four other prime contracts. Other accepted contracts included Geyer Fire Protection for a fire suppression system, Alstadt Plumbing, and Melkay Construction for mechanical and electrical work.
Officials say they are ready to see the project get going.
"We have met and discussed this," said Daviess Council President Tony Duncheon. "If the council is on board, we need to get moving forward. We can continue to have value engineering see what we can do with some items."
"It is time to move this process forward. We need to get the cost as low as possible," added Commissioner Michael Taylor. "I think it is time to move forward and get it done. It is not going to get any cheaper in the future."
County officials have held two meetings with contractors looking to squeeze some costs out of the project and get it down to the $12-million cap. As it stands now, on paper with soft costs, the project will run $13.8 million.
"We have evaluated the numbers and feel there are going to be some good opportunities for us to consider some changes," said President of the Daviess County Commissioners Nathan Gabhart. "It is clear to all of us that we have to move forward. We feel that there will be an opportunity to trim the numbers down to an acceptable level. The numbers we approved today will not be the final numbers."
Outgoing Daviess Superior Court Judge Dean Sobecki praised the commissioners and council for courthouse project.
"This has been a long time coming and the product of a lot of work by a lot of people. It has not been smooth. I am not sure it could ever be smooth when you are talking about remodeling an old building. It was part of the plan when this building (annex) was built to renovate the courthouse," said Sobecki. "I think everyone involved has worked towards a project that fits the needs of the court, now, and in the future. I think it best fits the needs of the county. I think we've done it in as efficient way that we possibly could."
To get the work done, the current offices in the courthouse will have to relocate for more than one year. Judge Sobecki says he anticipates some struggles as the courts, prosecutor, and clerk set up temporary operations.
"It is going to be a big period of transition when we move the courts and that's not as simple as it may sound. The staffs of my court and Judge Smith's court will be under tremendous stress and there may be some incidental costs we come to you guys about to cover some things we have not foreseen," he said. "I expect that we will be able to move forward with that as well."