Rick Trimpe
The Bartholomew County commissioners have approved using federal coronavirus relief funds to pay a contractor to perform design and other services related to replacing the HVAC system at the Bartholomew County Courthouse.
The commissioners on Monday voted 2-0 to approve a contract of up to $339,500 with Strand Associates to design the project and perform bidding-related and construction administration services.
However, the contract does not include the costs of actually replacing the system, which county officials said could involve “an astronomical amount of money.”
Commissioners Tony London and Carl Lienhoop voted to approve the contract. Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz did not attend the meeting.
“This is not something we want to do, but it is something we have to do,” London said during the meeting. “…We’re going to have to get into the ceiling, so we’re going to have to get into the floors and the walls, and it’s going to be a mess. And we’re going to try to coordinate very carefully with courts to try to be as least disruptive as possible.”
Bartholomew County Maintenance Superintendent Rick Trimpe told The Republic on Monday that the current HVAC system is about 30 years old and has started leaking in “different parts of the building.”
The system essentially uses a network of pipes to pump cold water through different areas of the courthouse to lower the temperature and hot water to heat the building up, officials said.
“(The system) is outdated, and we’re having problems with leakage,” Trimpe said. “…The pipes are rusted.”
“It’s going to be a major deal,” Trimpe added, referring to the scope of the project.
Officials said they anticipate needing to “tear out all the piping” and “replace the air handling units.” In addition, officials are looking at adding LED lighting to the courthouse as part of the project.
County officials are currently anticipating that the project will be completed by the end of October 2024.
“We’re anticipating that this could be near $3 million in the expense of it, which is an astronomical amount of money,” London said. “But in doing it this way, where we anticipate to have some numbers here in the next couple months … we’ll have a number to hone in on for budget time.”
The money for the contract with Strand Associates comes from the county’s allotment of funding from the American Rescue Plan, officials said.
The American Rescue Plan, a sweeping $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue package signed into law in 2021, funneled tens of millions of dollars in federal funding to Bartholomew County, including to local governments, schools, restaurants, regional projects and educational programming.
The Bartholomew County government received $16.27 million through the rescue package, federal records show.
