County Board Talks Courthouse Renovation Change Orders

By Alex Haglund

The Washington County Board held a lengthy monthly meeting on the evening of Tuesday, April 14, at the Birthday Room of the Nashville Community Center, where they discussed a number of change orders for the renovation of the old Washington County Courthouse.

The change orders presented to the board were discussed at a building committee meeting held immediately prior to the full board meeting.

Among the change orders approved were:

• The removal of plaster from interior walls.

• The addition of spray-in foam insulation between studs.

• The removal of some basement wall finishes, plus masonry work to in-fill basement crawl space openings and pipe openings.

• The framing of the elevator shaft, along with the installation of a fire rated cap.

• The Installation of new columns and wood supports.

• Concrete footing for generator pad and ambulance generator.

• The removal of the existing chimney.

Explaining the change orders to the board was Del Scott of Korte and Luitjohn, the contractors for the project.

Building committee chair Gary Suedmeyer stated that with all of the change orders coming in, contractors were beginning to run behind on structural work and there could be a delay in finishing the project by as much 45 days that would be announced in the future.

Currently, the county is working with McDonough–Whitlow Architects for the renovation, following Image Architects announcing that they were going out of business and resigning from the project.

Suedmeyer said that the search for a new architect would be time-consuming.

“It will probably be months before we can find someone,” said board chair David Meyer.

The county has also received their final invoice from Image Architects, but due to numerous omissions, items excluded from drawings and other issues, they did not feel that the county would be paying it. They stated that there would be discussion and that it would be revisited at a future meeting.

Other Building

Issues

The board approved work costing up to $25,000 from Naturally Green in order to sod the lawn of the Judicial Center. Initially, the lawn was just seeded and for the most part, the grass never took root. The current soil also has numerous stones and building debris buried just below the surface.

“My feeling is that something needs to be done,” said Suedmeyer. “We’ve got a lot of people saying that we should sod it as is, but I think that as it is, sod would have a hard time taking hold.”

The board discussed seeking other landscaper’s estimates and the idea of surrounding the Judicial Center with all ornamental rock.

“If we’re going to do something this spring,” said Suedmeyer, “it needs to be done tonight.”

Naturally Green will be removing the debris-riddled topsoil, bringing in good topsoil, and then sodding the lawn. They guarantee their sod for one year.

The roof of the jail is leaking, with water coming in through light fixtures.

“We think that it’s probably coming in through some of the risers coming out of the roof,” said Suedmeyer. With some patching, “hopefully, we can get another five or 10 years out of it.”

The board approved the purchase of two new computer servers. The first, costing $16,335, will be installed at county offices in the Community Center, with the other costing $15,244 and going into the Judicial Center.

For More, Please Read The April 22, 2015 Edition Of The Nashville News.