County to bid courthouse renovations

Dec. 7—Kevin Chamberlin and Kim Chamberlin with Upland Design Group presented the proposed renovation plans to restore the old Cumberland County Courthouse on the square at the Building and Grounds Committee meeting on Nov. 21, with the project to bid Dec. 13.

Upland Design Group expects the courthouse renovations to begin next summer and anticipates completion in 2025.

Mayor Allen Foster said the project would begin with "the original portion first," and restore the historic part of the courthouse. As the spaces are being worked in, the remaining employees and offices still housed at the courthouse will be shifted around to make way.

The first phase will include roof work, truss and structural repairs, electric and demolition.

Falling under WJE's scope of work are new windows on the building, new roof and the demolition for the historic part of the courthouse. Bids for this part of the work were opened Dec. 1, with three bids ranging from $2.2 million to $3.5 million.

Foster said that WJE would need about 12 days or so to review the bids and make a recommendation, which he hoped they would have by the next Budget Committee meeting.

"But, if not, we will know still earlier than what we thought," Foster said. "I think we're probably going to barely miss budget on the recommendation, but we will know high and low bids by then. So we will still have the information we need to get the resolution ready."

WJE will be removing the inactive chimneys.

The second phase begins the renovation work under the Upland Design Project.

"And that's part of the building that will be done ahead of us," said Kevin Chamberlin. "So when the second phase of the project begins — I'm guessing they're probably about eight months for their work, give or take — we'll come in behind them, start renovation work in the old part of the building, get that completed as much as we can, get the folks from the abandoned part of the building into the old part where they can have work resume.

"One of the things, too, to be bid into WJE's scope of work is all of the historic portion of the courthouse. All of the demolition that can fit into their scope is [fit into their scope], so that when their scope is done, we can come back and do construction straight away in the historic portion."

The renovation plan sets out to make better use of the space and make the building ADA compliant: a new break room and restrooms on the third floor; new flooring finishes and paint and ceilings and light fixtures throughout the building; an ADA compliant restroom on the main floor; ADA compliant ramps and handrails; new finishes inside the elevator; and dedicated office spaces for the Human Resources and IT departments.

The elevator does meet the minimum standard of ADA compliance.

"It should be fully accessible," said Chamberlin. "All the public will be able to access the public areas.

The ground floor renovation will see two new walls for a welcome lobby at the Veterans Service Office, and the original vault door on there main floor will also be kept intact.

"We have a vault that is ancient down there," said Wendell Wilson, 6th District commissioner. "It's the very first one that was in here. And Jules' group used it. It's still there, is it not?"

"The door will be existing to remain," Kevin Chamberlin said. "We're not doing anything with it. It will still be there. We'll make sure the contractors cover it up and preserve it as best they can."

The plan also called for reusing the existing seating in the large courtroom to be reinstalled for county commission meetings when the renovation work is complete.

"Reusing the seating that was over there," said Mayor Allen Foster, "I thought that was too cool not to reuse over there."

The large courtroom will also have two large screens installed for visual references of the agenda, resolutions, other documents and digitally cast votes to be viewable by the commission during meetings and two large screens for the public to view.

"So that everyone should be able to see everything that's going on," said Kevin Chamberlin.

"It will be eight months before you can start the renovation?" Colleen Mall, 9th District commissioner, asked. "About?"

"About," Kevin Chamberlin answered.

"How soon after renovation is this going to be?" Mall asked.

"What the intent is, is we are going to go ahead bid this project next month. So, the idea will be if the approval looks good, y'all approve everything and move forward, we will be in contract through the contractor. What that will allow him to do is start buying materials," Kevin Chamberlin said. "One of the hard things in a renovation project is you give them a contract and say, 'Go to work,' and they can't because they're waiting for materials to come in. So, in this case, the demolition is being done by WJE so they'll start ordering their materials. And then once WJE gets out of a space, and the old portion of the courthouse is safe enough to go in, then they'll start work.

"So, in this case, they'll get their materials, store them wherever they need to, and when we're ready to come and go to work, they're ready to hit the ground running."

Kevin Chamberlin added that his team and contractors will be attending WJE's progress meetings so everyone will be "in the loop."

"Ideally, they are going to do the original portion first," Foster said, "and then thinking my office will probably go where HR is going to end up.

"It's just going to be lots of shifting the whole time. It's going to be a pain but I think we can do it and stay in this building."

Kevin Chamberlin chimed in, "This building hasn't had a holistic renovation since it was built. Let's make sure that we're doing everything as right as we possibly can so that this building can last for another 100 years."

Sue York, District 1 commissioner, said, "We're doing everything that needs to be done here and not have to come back down the road when we're probably gone to do something else, right?"

Kevin Chamberlin responded, "It's an old building and it will require maintenance."

The Cumberland County Budget Committee meeting is Dec. 5 at 4:30 p.m. in the small meeting room at the Cumberland County Courthouse, 25 S. Main St. The Cumberland County Commission meeting will be on Dec. 19.