Plans to renovate the Pulaski County Courthouse and expand the Pulaski County Justice Center took another step forward last week. The county commissioners chose a process for the project’s management, selecting the construction manager as constructor option.
Nathan Origer, who’s serving as the county’s liaison for the project, said it would give the county the most flexibility when selecting a project manager. “With others, it’s simply the lowest bid most responsive, so you can’t rule them out because you know that they did a really bad job in a neighboring county’s city hall,” Origer explained, “but with this, you can have prequalifications in place to eliminate them from ever getting through the process before you interview them.”
Under the process, an architecture firm would help put together a list of requirements, which would then be included in a request for qualifications. For example, Origer said the county could ask for experience with historic buildings. The commissioners would appoint a committee to review qualifications of potential contractors, which would make a recommendation to the commissioners for final approval. Construction management costs in construction bonds are limited to 20 percent of the project’s total value.
Origer said the construction manager as constructor process was recommended by the county’s bond counsel and approved by the architect the county’s been working with. It’s only been allowed under Indiana Code for a few years. Locally, it’s being used by the Knox Community School Corporation for its building project
Meanwhile, Origer told the commissioners that Baker Tilly has begun a cash flow analysis. “Their findings, at this point, I would say, suggest that things are just as bad as Jeff Peters forecasted they were, without some action being taken, if not maybe even a little grimmer than Peters had suggested,” Origer said.
“This is the second set of accountants that has looked at the county and come up with the same conclusion, and that is you’re quickly going to run through cash and be out of cash by 2022,” County Attorney Kevin Tankersley added.
Tankersley noted that while the county wouldn’t have to use operational funds for the project, it could hurt the county’s bond rating, if the county council doesn’t adjust the tax structure.
