The Clinton County Judicial Center project, which has already been ongoing for two years, has been held up the entire year due primarily to no company bidding on waste removal from the existing buildings where the new facility will be housed.
However, thanks in part to the Clinton County Fiscal Court upping their Procurement Policy to allow projects $40,000 or less (as opposed to $20,000) to be bid on, that may change the scheme of things.
The Judicial Center’s Project Development Board (PDB) met last Friday morning, and according to Clinton County Judge/Executive Ricky Craig, Jim Codell of Codell Construction, informed the board that a demolition package had been put together and signed off on by the AOC (Administrative Office of the Courts).
Although tearing down the buildings cannot begin until all the waste and possible hazardous materials are removed, Judge Craig said late last week that CMAC officials, the environmentalists involved in working to secure companies to remove the waste, indicate that all other non-hazardous materials, such as paints and liquids, may be removed for under $20,000, with asbestos removal costing more.
The judge said the environmental company would be looking for contractors to do the work in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, the fiscal court approved first reading of an amendment to its Procurement Policy to increase the amount to $40,000 with a project not having to be bid, with second reading scheduled for its August 17 meeting.
“If asbestos removal is under the procurement range (of $40,000), it would not have to be bid out,” Craig said.
CMAC is currently looking for companies to do the waste removal, including asbestos, the judge added, noting it was hoped one contractor could be found to do all the work.
Should a company be found to do the waste removal without the necessity of rebidding–which has been done at least twice with no takers–the demolition process, starting with bidding the work, could start.
Judge Craig said the estimated cost of demolishing the existing buildings located between Cross and Washington Streets, is around $350,000. He further said he had given Codell a list of about a half dozen possible local contractors who may be interested in bidding on the demolition phase.
Even though there are a lot of “ifs” involved in the process over the next several weeks, this is about the closest thing to good news the PDB has received on the project this year.
Demolition was originally scheduled to begin at the first part of the year and construction being close to being underway. However, the waste removal process and other issues have  caused delays.
When the proposal for a Justice Center for Clinton County was presented by the AOC two years ago, the scope of the project was then $17.4 million. However, due to rising costs due to continuing inflation, the price tag has now risen to an estimated $28.4 million.
Judge Craig indicated the demolition process itself will not take long and hopes that if all goes well with finding someone to do the waste removal, the existing buildings may be down sometime by early fall of this year.
Because of the delays in the project, no time line on the actual construction phase is known. However, the project is likely not to be completed until the calendar year 2027.