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Work to begin on Justice Center renovation
BLOOMFIELD -- The Stoddard County Commission met with representatives of Kiefner Brothers, Inc., of Cape Girardeau, Architect Dale Rogers and department heads located in the Stoddard County Justice Center to establish a time line for renovations and repairs to the building in the coming months.
Kiefner Brothers was the low bidder on the project with a bid of $765,000. Bids were opened in August.
Matt Kiefner and Chris Conklin, the project manager, submitted a time line for the project, with early work plotted in green and critical work plotted in red. The work is to begin in October and be concluded in mid-June, 2016.
Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis said it was important for the contractor and the department heads in the Justice Center to "be on the same page." He noted that there had been some problems during the mold remediation at the Justice Center, and he didn't want there to be the same problems for the new major renovation project.
Much of the work is to be done at night after the Justice Center is closed and also on weekends.
Kiefner said the work would begin on the exterior. He said the drainage issues would be the first problems addressed with the front entrance next.
Mathis asked the contractor if they needed an area to park a trailer or other vehicles.
Conklin said they would work with the space the county required, but that the trailer would need to be as close to the building as possible.
Mathis said they could close the parking area in front of the Justice Center. He said parking would still be available across the street.
County Circuit Clerk Paula Yancey asked if the front entrance would be closed during the work.
Rogers said it would not. He said sections of the sidewalks would be closed as needed for work, but only one side of the entrance would be closed to allow the public access to the building.
Installation of a new roof would also begin in November.
Kiefner said the next phase would be the lower level of the building that houses the Juvenile Detention Center, which should begin Nov. 16.
Juvenile Officer Mike Davis and Detention Center Director Judy Hampton were both present. Davis said it was important for the contractors to meet with Hampton prior to any work so that plans could be made for housing the juveniles.
Hampton asked how many workers would be involved in the renovations downstairs. Kiefner said there would be "a half dozen" or so.
"Do you have any lanyards or badges?" Mathis asked Kiefner.
"No," said Kiefner. "But we could require our employees to wear bright-colored tee shirts with our company logo on them."
Kiefner said the final phase which included the second floor of the building would begin in March 2016.
Mathis asked if the county would need to plan on cleaning up after each day's work, so that business could go on as usual in the Justice Center.
Kiefner said the workers would pick up all tools, equipment and clean up the area so the county would not have to do cleanup.
Rogers asked who would be picking the colors for the walls and flooring. Mathis said he would prefer that the colors be the same as they are now. Rogers asked if they wanted to keep the red border.
"I don't care about the red border, but I would say we keep the same colors," Commissioner Danny Talkington said.
Commissioner Carol Jarrell said she agreed that they keep the colors as they are.
"Keep it simple," stated Mathis.
Rogers said there would be a pre-construction meeting before work began to further discuss the renovations.
"I want to emphasize -- communication, communication and more communication," said Mathis about the upcoming work on the Justice Center.