MANSFIELD — Richland County is seeking contractors to perform an estimated $3.4 million worth of improvements to the county courthouse.
The county Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved advertising for bids for a $2.75 million in renovations to multiple floors of the five-story building and also a $750,000 project to build a fourth Common Pleas courtroom on the fourth-floor of the building.
Some of the work will be paid for by the county’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act money.
Commissioner Tony Vero said he anticipates $1.5 to $2 million will need to come from the county’s existing capital fund, which was at $11.5 million as of Tuesday.
“It’s a combination of ARPA and capital. What we say is ‘non-borrowed dollars,’ ” Vero said. “We are not borrowing money to complete these projects.”
The unanimous vote to proceed with the projects came during a meeting with county administrator Andrew Keller and Brad Mauer of the Mauer Architectural Design Studio and Craig Christie with Karpinski Engineering.
The first project will renovate the first floor of the building, i.e. “L1,” to create new offices for the Richland County Land Bank, a new employee break room and an employee workout room.
It will also renovate the common areas on four of the five floors and nine of the building’s 10 bathrooms.
One of the 10 bathrooms was already redone when the second floor, i.e. “L2,” was renovated earlier this year as part of the project to create new offices for the county Clerk of Courts office.
Keller said bids will be advertised at the same time, but bid openings will be done on different days.
Bids for the courtroom project will be opened Oct. 22 and bids for the Land Bank, common areas and restrooms will be opened Oct. 24.
“Obviously, both of these projects are subject to the lowest and best bid standard,” Keller said.
In order to meet ARPA guidelines, money must be appropriated by the end of 2024 and all work completed by the end of 2026.
Keller said the courtroom project is estimated to take 150 days and the larger renovation that encompasses work on all five floors should take 240 days.
“We expect by the time both projects are complete, we’ll be into 2026,” Keller said.
Vero suggested it was a “pretty ambitious” timeline. The renovation to create the Clerk of Court’s offices continues to be delayed as the county waits for an air handler for the HVAC system.
Keller said, “We believe it’s doable. I’ve been talking to our design team. Fingers crossed, but we’re not anticipating any particular piece of equipment that will create a supply chain issue for us on either of these projects.”
