NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON,Kan. — Harlan Depew with Reno County gave the Board of County Commissioners an update this week on the courthouse renovation project.
"The first floor is complete, except for the carpet replacement out in that open area, which we can't really do until we get all those document boxes moved back upstairs and cleaned out," Depew said. "That will be the final portion of this. The second floor is complete. The third floor is complete. The fourth floor is nearly complete, with just a few little details remaining."
The space for the District Attorney's staff will be done soon.
"The fifth floor, framing, mechanical, drywall, the staircase, electrical, mechanical, all that's mostly complete," Depew said. "This week they're working on painting and actually starting to put ceilings in. That's nearing completion up there too. It's exciting to see it come together here at the tail end. Next, finishing up the painting, ceilings, dropping the lighting in. Then, we're really ready for carpet and I guess windowsills still need to go in up there."
As was also mentioned by District Attorney Tom Stanton, there is some tricky stuff still to be done.
"The asbestos in the adhesive below the tile that's under the carpet on the west side needs to be abated," Depew said. "While we tried everything we knew now to push that portion of it forward and get the carpet replaced here in January, before we're ready to do the east side, that just really wasn't a workable solution for the district attorney to move all his people at the same time into little small pockets all over the building. We made the decision to wait and do that after the east side is completed."
Depew gave them a rough idea of when he thinks it will be done.
"The timeline right now is finishing up the east offices and the newly remodeled space about the end of February," Depew said. "From there, we'll move straight in to the west side offices and get that carpet replaced and then as soon as that's done, we can hop down and knock out that first floor. That would put completion in the middle of May.
That extends the contract date by 62 days. The overall change order will be considered at their next meeting.
CLICK HERE to download the HutchPost mobile app.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update.