Plans to build a new government center in Shawano County need approvals from more than city and county officials. The proposal for specific parts of the courthouse and sheriff’s department needs to align with Wisconsin Supreme Court and Department of Corrections guidelines.
The proposed second floor of the new courthouse will include the courtrooms, judges’ chambers and related rooms. Building it requires oversight from the district court administrator and the chief judge; further, the chief judge has to approve the drawings, according to Kurt Berner, of The Samuels Group, the firm consulting with Shawano County officials on the project.
“There are the Supreme Court guidelines that they need to abide by,” Berner told members of the public property committee May 7. “The Department of Corrections takes a look at the jail and all the intake, which is the booking, pre-booking, sally port, all the receivers, and then the jail. The DOC, just like the district court administrator, that’s their territory. They need to make sure that the design is both compliant and it meets the operational requirements that are there.”
The sheriff’s department’s evidence garage, now located west of the jail, will be moved to the north, but during that construction phase, the contents inside need to be moved elsewhere, and the consultants are working with the sheriff and others on that scenario.
Soil borings on the proposed courthouse site west of the current courthouse at 311 N. Main St. in Shawano have been completed, and officials are awaiting those results.
Also, The Samuels Group and Venture Architects continue to prepare the bid paperwork for potential contractors.
Projects will be packaged individually, such as for concrete work, utilities, excavating, mason work, etc., Berner said.
Companies can either bid on individual items or group some or all together and bid that way.
The first pack of bids is expected to be ready by August. A second bid pack will be let in November.
Berner also said bids for some specific pieces of equipment will be ready soon. For example, a generator that may take 12-18 months to get will be bid out sooner rather than later to ensure it is available when it is needed in the later construction phase.
