The Portage County Space and Properties Committee will continue remodeling the County-City Building and is identifying some of the work as capital projects for budget purposes Monday.
The committee said an expenditure of less than $170,000 for the courts and clerk of courts area on the second floor should be included in the 1999 budget to continue the progression of work when offices are vacated by moves into remodeled quarters.
Dennis Kolodziej, superintendent of facilities, said the child support and corporation offices on the main floor of the building have been completed and those departments have moved into their new quarters.
The next stage of work would include soundproofing jury rooms and providing bulletproof security for judges, the clerks and bailiffs in courtrooms, changing Conference Room E into a hearing room and remodeling the law library to include a conference room.
The cost estimate is based on a projection from Todd Grunwald, an engineer, but county officials were unable to contact him about the estimate because he is on vacation.
Ken Tronnier, county purchasing manager, said the estimate of $468,160 for the rest of the remodeling is pure conjecture at this point. "He wanted to come up with a number but couldn't spend time with people to finalize needs."
Kolodziej said the study was done hastily and probably is padded, but the county needs to develop a long-range plan for its facilities.
Bernadette Flatoff, clerk of courts, said the law library remodeling will reduce space because CDs are replacing books. That will allow for additional space to construct conference rooms for hearings, she said.
She said she was informed that when space is remodeled, existing lighting and other fixtures often have to be redone because conditions have changed.
Kolodziej said the remodeling costs for the clerk of courts area amount to about $40 per square foot, which is less than half the square-foot cost of $98 to $99 for the Courthouse Annex.
Besides the continued remodeling for the County-City Building, the committee also said it wants to budget $500,000 in the capital projects account each year for the next four years to set aside $2 million for the heating and air conditioning system in the building.
The County-City Building has problems with heating and air conditioning, Kolodziej said, and now has air conditioners in windows and heaters under desks because the system isn't working.
Replacing the system has been estimated at $2 million, he said, and that is one of the long-range plans that need to be addressed.
While the county may develop long-range plans, he said he realizes something may come up to change those plans. The county just redid Lincoln Center with tuckpointing, he said, and he doesn't want to stick a lot of money into a building just to see it torn down.
County Board Chairman Clarence Hintz said situations sometimes develop that alter plans. "We didn't know that the Associated Bank building would become available, he said, referring to a possible site to relocate Lincoln Center activities.
As part of the long-range plan, the committee also said $42,000 should be budgeted in 2003 to repave the parking lots at the County-City Building and Gilfry Center.