JPs allocate courthouse funds
Justices of the peace appropriated $40,000 Monday night to stabilize the most critical areas of the Garland County Court House’s upper exterior and are bracing for a sizable capital outlay in 2019 to remove and replace all of the problem areas.
Money drawn from the general fund-supported general services budget Monday will pay for the removal of 28 terra-cotta panels adorning the eaves on the northeast, southeast and southwest corners of the historic county seat. An extruded panel on the southeast section fell through the roof of the county clerk’s office last year.
The emergency stabilization
will include the installation of a temporary membrane to close the gaps and protect against moisture infiltration, which architects who have inspected the roof and upper area of the southern perimeter said has compromised steel hooks anchoring the ornamental panels to the outside wall.
The architects have told the county it will take 12 to 14 weeks to cast fiberglass replacement panels. The county paid Cromwell Architects Engineers $13,440 for the inspection from the other professional services line item in the general services budget.
John Greer Jr. of WER Architects/Planners and Thomas Moore of Cromwell presented a $782,682 estimate to remove and replace more than 100 panels. The cost includes fixing water-damaged mortar joints and masonry, cleaning all of the building’s masonry and applying a water-repellent seal.
The estimate envisions a phased approach taking 38 weeks, but Greer said putting the project out for bid under one contract would reduce the cost and shorten the timeline.
“If you do it all at once, I think you’re going to see that number drop drastically,” he told the Garland County Quorum Court Finance Committee, explaining that much of the cost owes to the lifts that will be needed to reach the upper areas. “You’ll save money on materials. If you’re cutting your construction time, your general conditions will go down. You’re saving money in the amount of supervision and people on site.
“You have less mobilization. If they have to pull off after this job and wait a month or two for phase two, you’re remobilizing, getting those lifts in here, and that’s more money.”
The JPs asked Greer and Moore to present an estimate for preparing bid documents at the finance committee’s meeting next month. The county said it plans on applying for an Arkansas Historic Preservation Program grant to help pay for the project, but it’s possible the Ouachita Memorial Hospital Fund will have to absorb most of the cost.
According to a summary of the county’s treasury accounts, the OMH fund had a $7.8 million balance at the end of last month. The quorum court said some of the expense could also be paid from next year’s general fund budget.
The courthouse was built in
1906 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1979. The interior was rebuilt after a fire damaged it in 1913.