The finishing touches on the historic Effingham County courthouse are being completed.

 

County commissioners approved a change order and four construction change directives for the building, which is undergoing an extensive refurbishment. Commissioners approved bids for site work from Indigo FG&G and for landscaping from Landscapers Depot. The total for the bids was $182,590.71, a decrease by $21,000, but it also will affect the maximum guaranteed price of the project, county project manager Adam Kobek said. Four companies submitted bids on the site work and three companies put in bids for the landscaping.

 

Under the plans, parking spots will be realigned and there will be new handicapped parking spaces, irrigation and landscaping.

 

Four construction directives for the courthouse approved last Tuesday won’t change the project’s bottom line, Kobek said.

 

“We have identified four different needs that were not anticipated expenses in the original budget,” he said. “However, we experienced some savings in some line items. Those expenses would come for those savings.”

 

The changes include additional electrical service for the fire suppression system. It would run the fire pump and the sprinkler system. Both typically run off separate power, Kobek explained.

 

“If a building catches on fire, the very first thing the fire department would do is kill the electricity to the building,” he said.

 

Also added were custom shelving units in window alcoves of two vaults, a custom piece of furniture going into alcove that is being created so building can have site security and a arge worktable that would take up entire old probate court record room and a computer kiosk desk with room for tax digest in the tax/tag office.

 

The gazebo in the memorial park adjacent to the courthouse also has been declared surplus. It and the fountain will be relocated behind the probation office.

 

“We’re declaring it surplus in case we do something with it in the future,” Kobek said.

 

Work on the courthouse, a $3.2 million project, is expected to be finished in October.