The Porter County
Board of Commissioners awarded bids for the second phase of renovation on
the Porter County Courthouse in downtown Valparaiso at its meeting Tuesday.
The project drew
nine bids in four categories--general trades, flooring, mechanical/plumbing,
and electrical. Skillman Corp., acting as the County’s agent and managing
the project, recommended the low, responsive bidders Gariup Construction for
$1,086,500 in general trades, Midwest Tile & Interiors for $55,775 in
flooring, Gatlin Plumbing & Heating for $71,500 in mechanical/plumbing, and
EMCOR Hyre Electric for $172,435 in electrical. The total cost of the bid
package comes to $1,386,210. The Board approved Skillman’s recommendations.
Dion Katsouros,
senior project manager with Skillman, reported the project entails work on
the interior and exterior. The judge’s parking area will have added security
measures and be widened. There will be a new plaza with brick pathways
installed, and the improvements will bring the building into compliance with
ADA requirements. Right now, the Courthouse is accessed for transfers to and
from the jail from Lincolnway, but the new access will be off Franklin
Street. Work on interior restrooms will begin after the materials are
ordered and have come in to cause as little interruption to normal
operations as possible, according to Katsouros. Another Skillman employee is
coordinating to make sure the work doesn’t interrupt the annual Popcorn
Festival.
The project came in
$288,000 under budget.
“To date we’re
trending very well under our budgeted dollar amounts,” said Commissioner
President Jeff Good, R-Center.
Other Business
In other capital
improvements business, the Commissioner’s approved two payments to Gough
Construction for work on the Auditor’s and Commissioner’s offices--one in
the amount of $12,600 for known costs on both offices and one retainage
payment of $9,100 for the Auditor’s office.
The Board approved
their second to last payment to Gariup Construction for the renovation of
the Administration Center plaza for $24,096.97. The final payment will be a
retainage of $1,206.
Facilities
The Board also
approved Director of Facilities Matt Stechly to spend $21,820 to have
Tri-State Door Solutions replace and repair the sally port doors at the
jail. Stechly said the sally port doors are heavy-duty steel used 20 to 50
times per day, but they are original to the building.
“We’re repairing
these more and more and more. I’m starting to hear things like ‘this part is
obsolete, and it will take two weeks to get this,’” Stechly said. There are
two sally port doors. One will be fully replaced, and another will be
repaired to save on costs. Stechly said this workaround may have saved up to
$13,000.