Courthouse project will be bid again

By Dean Shipley

Staff Writer

Following a meeting with the architect for the proposed municipal court building and municipal court judge, the county commissioners Monday approved re-bidding the 13,500 square foot building, plus the same area for a basement.

Architect Tony Schorr of Schorr Architects apologized to the commissioners for the error. He called their estimates in certain areas of the project “woefully low.”

It estimated the project at $3.1 million. The lowest bid came in at $3.9 million.

Principal areas in which their estimates came in low included wood detail and trim.

“We were way low, ” Schorr said. “We should have estimated better.”

Schorr said because the specifications called for good quality work, there were fewer bidders, which Schorr said drives up the bids. He said in areas they estimated $100,000, the bids came in at a range of $400,000 to $500,000.

Another area included brick and brick work. More detailing increases the cost, up to $80,000 Schorr said.

Concrete work Schorr estimated was also low.

The mark up on the single prime, a markup the general contractor assesses on the subcontractors who work for him are “coming in higher than anyone thought,” Schorr said. The range is 9 to 12 percent of the project cost.

Schorr agreed to meet with municipal court judge Eric Schooley to discuss any changes which may need to be made.

Commissioners are ready to back Schooley “to build the bridge to get it done,” said Paul Gross. Monday regarding estimates for the proposed municipal court building. Schorr Architects have already received $255,000 for its work thus far on the project.

“Our firm has bent over backward (on the project),” Schorr said.

Advertisements for bids will appear in The Madison Press in the coming days. Schorr said on the day of the bid opening he was accompanying his wife to the Cleveland Clinic to determine the cause of her illness.

• In other business, commissioners heard their health care plan stands in good shape. According to Wendy Dillingham, Benefits specialist for CEBCO, the insurance arm of the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, in terms of claims the plan stands in a good situation. She said there is no evidence of “inappropriate care.” She gave the example of overuse of a hospital emergency room.

“Employees are conservative in their use of the plan,” she said. She spoke with commissioners about the benefits of preventive care, which are covered 100 percent by the plan.