The Pulaski County Courthouse may soon be getting a new elevator. The county commissioners Monday gave their support to a plan from Keystone Architecture to replace the existing elevator with a larger one in the same spot.
County Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston said that unlike the current elevator, the new one will be fully ADA compliant. “That hall on that side will go away because that will be the entrance to the elevator,” he explained. “It’ll be an eight-foot-by-eight-foot car, which will accommodate any wheelchair and emergency medical service’s gurneys. It’ll handle all of that, and it will meet all of the ADA criteria, as far as controls and phones on the inside and the whole thing.”
Following the county commissioners’ approval Monday, it will now be up to the county council to consider funding arrangements for the elevator project. If funding is approved, Johnston said the next step will be for Keystone to complete the architectural, structural, and electrical engineering. “That’s something that hasn’t been done yet, not for this,” he said. “We’ll have to do that, and that will give them the materials list and that for the actual shaft itself, and that’s what we will bid out to competing construction companies.”
However, he said it would be several months before the new elevator is ready. “The design and drawing details take approximately six weeks to complete,” Johnston said. “The bidding process will take about three weeks to complete. And then the installation, including the shaft and elevator installation will take six months. So we will be without for six months.”
Elevator upgrades have been under consideration for some time, as part of larger courthouse renovations. But so far, county council members have had difficulty finding funding for a full-scale renovation project.
County officials have decided to focus on improving accessibility first, and maybe apply for grant funding to help pay for other building improvements later. The basement restrooms have also been reconfigured recently, to better accommodate people using wheelchairs.
