NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The public elevator at the Law Enforcement Center needs refurbishment, and the Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a bid from Sunrise Elevator, Benton Kansas in the amount of $149,857.64 at their meeting on Wednesday.
"After discussing the options with the county administrator and the city, we have decided to recommend doing just the public elevator this year," said Maintenance Director Harlan Depew. "We will budget for the back elevator in a future year. The project would retain the existing car, but replace all of the controls, the mechanics, modernize the controls and mechanical equipment and bring the elevator up to current state code requirements."
The county specified non-proprietary equipment in the project, so that they aren't locked in to getting one particular manufacturer's parts going forward. Even though Sunrise wasn't the lowest bid, they agreed to take care of some expected additional issues if they arise.
"When they remove that hydraulic cylinder, which is buried in the ground, we know that cylinder has leaked a little bit," Depew said. "The elevator's been shut down a little while because of that. We didn't want to continue to leak fluid out of that cylinder, but if that cylinder is not in casing, then there is potential that some of the soil surrounding the cylinder would be contaminated and would have to be dug out of there and remediated, disposed of properly. TK [the low bidder's] terms and conditions basically say, if they find that, then they walk away from it and it's our responsibility from there on to remediate that situation. Sunrise will work with us. They will dig it out. They will place any contaminated soil in 55-gallon drums and then we can dispose of it. That one thing, in and of itself, I believe, justifies paying that extra $5000."
Also, Sunrise has a history of good work for the county in the past.
"Sunrise is a little smaller," Depew said. "They're maybe a little more able to pivot and work with us on different things that come up. Matt Whitley, who is the owner of that company from Benton, is the one that led the project on the partial modernization on the manual elevator here at the courthouse about five years ago. They did a great job on that one, so I'm very comfortable with him and his company."
The city and the county will go 50-50 on the cost of the work.