Preparations continue for the replacement of the Pulaski County Courthouse elevator. Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston told the county council Monday the project is going well. “All the material has been ordered,” he said. “The demolition is going to actually begin the end of this month, the last week of this month.”
As of Monday, Johnston expected materials to start arriving this week. Plans call for the old elevator to be removed and replaced with one that’s fully ADA-compliant.
Also during Monday’s meeting, Johnston discussed the funding arrangements for lawn care and snow removal at certain county properties. The county commissioners last week agreed to hire outside companies to do the work. Johnston said it will be cheaper than having his employees do it. “Over the next few months, we’ll keep track of how much it’s costing us,” he said. “This will be a trial run year to see how it goes, and I will make sure that you guys are informed as to how much we’re actually saving. So at the end of the year, when the contracts are over because they’re annual contracts, we’ll be in a position where we can decide whether that’s something we want to continue doing or whether it’s better just to take it back ourselves.”
Council member Ken Boswell pointed out that some money may still have to be moved around, since maintenance staff will be reassigned to other duties. “Now, so we have to keep in mind as a board, though, that we’re still paying your people because we want them to do other jobs that they can be doing, so there will be, probably, an increase in our cost that will come out for doing that,” he told Johnston.
Johnston said that while more money may be spent out of the maintenance budget, the overall cost to the county should decrease.
