Plans for a new elevator at the Pulaski County Courthouse were presented to the county commissioners this week. Cameron Chambers with Keystone Architecture explained that it will be in the same general location as the current one, but it will be a little bigger.”On the first floor, you’ll enter it coming in off that main hallway, with one door, and when you go upstairs, you’ll have the same door right above it,” he explained. “We’ll actually end up creating a storage closet there, so when you come up the stairs from the ground to the main floor, you’ll now be forced to go left because right will be enclosed by this elevator.”
Similarly, the new elevator will block the hallway on the top floor of the courthouse. To provide access to rooms on either side, the elevator will have two doors on that level.
County Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston said there are still a few steps that need to be taken, before construction can begin. “On the 9th and 16th of November, we’ll send out bid advertisements to the local newspapers and they’re going to send some down there,” he said. “And then on the 20th or 21st, there will be a pre-bid meeting, where interested contractors can come up, meet with Cameron, maybe [Keystone Architecture President] Rob [Galbraith], myself, and take a look at the building, the project site, and see what all they’re going to be working with.”
Johnston said bids will be opened during the December 4 commissioners meeting. Then, they will be sent to Keystone for review. “Once they’ve made sure that all the contractors that bid on it can do the work, they’ll send you their recommendations with who’s qualified,” he explained. “And then, on the joint session on December 11, that’s when you guys will decide who you’re going to go with.”
They expect construction to start after the first of the year. From then, Johnston said it will take about six months. “It will take three months to demolish and build the new shaft, and then it takes 12 weeks to get the elevator ordered and in,” he said. “There’s a 12-week lead time, but they can’t order the elevator until the shaft’s complete.”
On Monday, the plans will go to the county council, so funding arrangements can be considered. The current elevator needs to be replaced, to bring the courthouse into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
