A county project to build a new storage facility at the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds hit a snag after no contractors submitted bids for it.
During the Bartholomew County Commissioners meeting on Monday, Jim Shoaf, county attorney, reported that no contractors submitted bids for what will eventually be a 16,200 square-foot storage building on the northeast corner of the county fairgrounds.
The purpose of the storage facility is to house a large amount of government documents and other items previously stored on county properties that have either recently changed hands, are being renovated, or are just out of space.
Some of the documents have to be stored for 50 years by law, others are required to be kept in an environmentally-controlled environment, according to county officials.
Shoaf said that four contractors showed up to a pre-bid meeting on Sept. 18 and Strand Associates Steve Ruble, who the commissioners enlisted to do planning, design, bidding and construction administrative services for the project, noted that they had a number of prime-bidders.
“I can say we had five, what I call prime bidders take out drawings and specs for the project. We did have the pre-bid meeting. Some of those folks attended that meeting. As far as a reason why we received no bids, that would be pretty speculative at this point. This is the first time I’ve had no bids on a project, but I think it’s worth reaching out to the contractors, understanding why they decided not to submit bids.”
Ruble said no contractors reached out with any questions. Commissioner Carl Lienhoop, R-District 2, said they will now “regroup” and seek to re-bid the project again.
There were a large number of documents being held in the old Elk’s Club at 507 Third St. that had served as the former court services building. When the city took ownership of that property and the block surrounded by Second, Franklin, Third and Lafayette streets in November 2022 as part of plans for what was going to be a future hotel and conference center, some of those documents were transferred to the former county highway garage at 2452 State St.
But now that the county has sold the former county highway garage to the Columbus Redevelopment Commission, commissioners said they need a secure facility relatively close to downtown to store the material, along with more currently kept at the Bartholomew County Courthouse, Purdue Extension Building, Bartholomew County Health Department and the Bartholomew County Youth Services Center.
The project is expected to cost just under $1 million, said Commissioner Tony London, R-District 3, adding that it is being done with the support of the Bartholomew County Fair Board.
The idea of the building is that there would be a code to gain access to the main structure, and then various county departments will each have their own bay on the inside that only they have access to, according to London.
The Columbus Plan Commission on Sept. 10 approved a site development plan major modification associated with the new storage building.
