Courtroom repairs to begin this week
Staff writer
Repairs to a leak in Marion County’s courtroom will begin this week.
County commissioners unanimously accepted a $47,441 bid Monday from Hutton Construction to begin repair of a wall that has leaked from the courtroom and into the county clerk’s office one floor below at least since a hailstorm in April.
“We had a contractor come out and do some exterior work to fill in the mortar and repair that,” county administrator Tina Spencer said. “But we still have the issue with the wall still damaged up there, and the window itself.”
Other repairs and renovations will include adding acoustic panels to courtroom walls as well as remilling a window that is “an inch or two from the wall, and there’s no wall behind it,” facilities director Kevin Moon said.
The last time the courtroom received major renovations was in the 1980s, Spencer said.
Because of hearings scheduled, acoustic panels may not be added until January.
“They have to schedule it around court,” Moon said. “But, I don’t think they would have to wait for the window work to be done for the panels to go up. I think they could go ahead with that once the wall is repaired.
Hutton will not be responsible for any additional costs should the project require extra work, maintenance, or materials.
“Sometimes you tear something open, and you’ll wind up have a bigger mess and [spend] more dollars,” commissioner Johan Gehring said. “I didn’t know if they had any contingency built into that, so that they would absorb it.”
Spencer replied: “Usually, we get into that when it’s a bigger project.”
A courthouse multipurpose building line item in the county’s general fund will pay for the repair.