The Shawano County Board is expected to discuss Wednesday whether it will approve an additional $14,000 to remodel the former Health Department offices in the courthouse basement into offices for Sheriff’s Department investigators and support staff.
A request for $19,000 in additional funds went before the Finance Committee earlier this week. The County Board had earlier this year approved $42,100 for the basement work, and the Public Property Committee accepted a bid Nov. 1 from Felts Construction for $35,932 for the remodeling.
However, Felts’ bid does not cover carpeting and its installation, heating and ventilation work, and security locks. The request for additional funds states it would cost $9,000 for the carpet and another $1,969 to install it, as well as $3,756 for the heating and ventilation system work, $4,900 to put in security locks, and $5,555 for unknown contingencies.
Finance Committee members were willing to approve funds for the work, but the contingency fund gave them pause.
“Usually, you put in a contingency when you start out and you don’t know what you might run into,” Supervisor Arlyn Tober said.
Supervisor Marlin Noffke suggested Maintenance Director Steve Dreher, who asked for the additional project funding, was inflating the cost of the project and suggested $14,000 was more than adequate.
“When all the chips are counted and everybody knows what’s going on, there’s no need to have a contingency fund,” Noffke said. “If something unforeseen happens, you can go back to the bank once more.”
Supervisor Sandy Steinke initially said it would be better to award the full $19,000 so work would not be delayed by another trip to the committee and County Board if the project went over budget. However, she agreed to the $14,000 to keep the project moving.
“We could have used the space a year ago,” Steinke said. “What took so long?”
The project was initially approved by the County Board in June, but bids were not opened until November.
The money is coming out of the building maintenance department’s budget.
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