close

Greene commissioners OK contract for courthouse renovation

3 min read
article image -

Greene County commissioners approved a contract totaling nearly $275,000 to renovate the courthouse’s metal roof, dome and clock tower.

The contract was awarded Thursday to Arkadia Contracting Inc. of Carnegie after the company submitted the low bid of $144,790 to renovate the metal roof and another low bid of $129,400 for a separate dome and clock tower renovation project.

Commissioner Mike Belding said the contract is pending engineer, solicitor and controller approval.

When discussing the motion during the commissioners’ agenda meeting Wednesday, county Chief Clerk Jeff Marshall said the contract states that Arkadia Contracting will seal and waterproof the roof, and the contract offers a 20-year guarantee, with an option to extend for an additional 20 years. Belding said this was a good investment, since the courthouse roof and dome had sustained previous water damage.

Commissioner Blair Zimmerman said that over the years ongoing water damage issues with the roof, dome and clock tower had become a “money pit” for the county, adding that “a lot of money” had been spent on renovations and repairs to the courthouse.

Resident George Scull, attending the Wednesday meeting, said the county has been “chasing its tail” in constantly investing taxpayers’ dollars into a wide array of courthouse renovation projects, and asked if the county was getting “the right people to do the work.”

Zimmerman said previous boards had approved contracts for several companies to handle renovations and had also sent county staff members to investigate various projects, and admitted that the board wasn’t always “pleased with the work” that had been done.

Scull said the county “needs someone capable, an experienced and professional company to do (the project) right.”

“The county has put a lot of money into this, and nickeled and dimed it, and in my opinion (the county has) done a terrible job in the past,” he said.

Marshall added that various individual issues regarding the courthouse roof, dome and clock tower had been addressed and fixed over the years.

Constructed in 1850, the courthouse has seen numerous repairs, and in recent years, funding for the renovations has come from the oil and gas industry in Greene County through the Pennsylvania Act 13 law. Previous construction has included various renovations to the bell tower, new columns, updated porch, and strides to repair the rot from the past 140 years.

The contract approved Thursday will be paid for through Act 13 funding, and Belding said the project is expected to begin sometime in the summer.

In another matter, commissioners approved a contract for improvements to Mon View Roller Rink in Greensboro.

The low bid of $48,985 was submitted by Raffle Construction LLC of Ruffs Dale, and the contract, which will be approved pending solicitor and controller approval, will be paid with Act 13 funding.

Belding said the work will improve the facility’s drainage and flooring issues as well as upgrade the roof.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $3.75/week.

Subscribe Today