Washington County Commissioners voted to proceed with awarding the bid for renovations to the Washington County Courthouse restrooms during their Tuesday, November 9 meeting.
County Administrator Dustin Peebles explained that the County received two bids for this project:
– MMI Construction in the amount of $304,000
– Dyer Construction in the amount of $238,115
“In speaking with the architect, there are some things we can do to bring that number down through value engineering items,” said County Administrator Peebles when discussing the bids.
When discussing the need for the renovations to the Washington County Courthouse restrooms, County Administrator Peebles noted that none of the restrooms are ADA accessible.
In addition, the renovations will ventilate the restrooms, and provide heat and air to those facilities. Currently, the restrooms have heat, but they do not have air during the warm months.
“We’ll also have touchless fixtures,” said County Administrator Peebles, adding that this feature will allow the County to utilize COVID-19 recovery funds for this project.
County Administrator Peebles reported to the Commissioners that the architect was pleased with the bids the County received.
“The big expense is the block walls that we would have to tear down and move,” said County Administrator Peebles. He continued, “They’ll have to tear those down one at a time because we have to have some restrooms open for the people working there and for the public.”
In addition, the renovations will need to work around the Court schedule.
This renovation will cover a total of six restrooms.
Commissioners considered tabling a decision; however, they ultimately voted to award the bid to Dyer Construction.
Commissioner James Hitchcock explained that the initial bid the County received is the maximum amount, but efficiencies are being considered to reduce that amount.
“They’re going to try and cut it down some,” said Commissioner Doug Watkins.
Commissioner Edward Burten moved to award the bid for restroom renovations to Dyer Construction; Commissioner Doug Watkins second, and the vote carried unanimously.