An engineering and architectural firm has the go-ahead to begin designing a new Bartholomew County Highway garage.
The Bartholomew County commissioners have authorized DLZ Indiana, Inc. to create a schematic design for the facility that will be built east of Petersville.
Meanwhile, an ordinance about borrowing funding to pay for the highway garage will be considered by the Bartholomew County Council on Nov. 13.
While the council is setting a maximum $6 million for the bonds, council members such as Chris Ogle, Bill Lentz and Evelyn Pence want to use the county’s reserve fund to reduce the bond amount to $5 million to reduce long-term debt.
Council president Mark Gorbett said he wants further assurances that the county won’t be hit by unexpected expenses before he commits large sums from the county’s Rainy Day fund.
The garage, which will be built on an 11.25-acre farm site off East 25th Street, next to the Clay Township Fire Department, will replace the 66-year-old current facility at State Street and Gladstone Avenue in Columbus.
Although the county commissioners said in late July they wanted to fast-track the project, DLZ engineer Charlie Day said the schematic design is only the first of five phases in the architectural design process.
In this initial phase, an architect meets with a client to determine requirements and goals. In this project, a key decision will be determining the best location that will provide an efficient circulation pattern for highway trucks and vehicles, Day said.
After schematic design comes the design development phase, which yields more detailed site and floor plans. That’s followed by the construction document phase, which produces highly-detailed drawings intended for construction purposes.
Bidding and permitting is considered the fourth stage, while the fifth and final phase is construction.
But before reaching the bidding phase, the staff at Taylor Bros. Construction Co. will break down various components into several individual projects, according to commissioner chairman Larry Kleinhenz.
By allowing several smaller companies to bid on each section, overall construction costs can be reduced significantly, Kleinhenz said.
Last July, the commissioners said they hoped groundbreaking could take place as early as next March. If that happens, it might allow the 22-employee highway department to move into the building by the end of next year, Kleinhenz said.
Although the city of Columbus has expressed interest in purchasing the current highway garage, city officials want a two-phase study to determine if the State Street building might have contamination issues, county attorney Grant Tucker said.
In early July, Kleinhenz said the city is considering the property for several possible uses, including a bus terminal or a storage facility.
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An ordinance about borrowing money to pay for a new highway garage will be considered by the Bartholomew County Council on Nov. 13.
The 6 p.m. meeting will be held in the council’s fourth floor chambers at the county government office building at Third and Franklin streets.
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