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"I didn't know if we could narrow it down to two," Presiding Commissioner Arden Engelage said. "The designs match the needs and the land. They will do some tweaking. It may change. They did an excellent job."
The county will build the facility on a 3-acre parcel it bought this summer located off Mockingbird Lane on South Highway 47. The building will house all non-court related offices, including the commission, county clerk, assessor, collector, treasurer, recorder of deeds, health department, planning and zoning, environmental health and emergency management.
Once construction is completed and the offices moved, the existing courthouse is expected to be renovated and a third courtroom will be added.
The cheapest of the designs was a 37,850-square-foot, two-story structure with a basement estimated to cost $6,493,392. The design included a main entrance facing Highway 47 and included the more frequented offices such as assessor, collector and recorder of deeds on the main floor.
"It's very compact," Southern District Commissioner Hubie Kluesner said. "I think it will meet our needs for the next 20 years. I really do. If it doesn't meet our needs for the next 20 years, it certainly has room (for growth)."
The other design the commission liked was a 47,000-square-foot, L-shaped building projected to cost $7,650,748. The entrance also fronted the highway and included a separate parking lot for employees.
The commissioners asked Sharon Schmitz of Treanor if the building could be made smaller to get closer in line to the price of the first design.
"If we could shrink it down, get down to our costs, we have a lot of advantages as far as parking and entrance for staff," Kluesner said.
All four designs focused on a brick structure that included numerous windows. It's been the commissioners' intent to construct the facility using "green" initiatives, possibly with the aid of grants or other funding avenues. In all four designs, the main entrance to the building was off Mockingbird Lane.
Two similar L-shaped designs that the commission didn't favor included a 45,700-square-foot building estimated to cost $7,439,016 and a 47,000-square-foot facility projected at $7,650,748.
When Treanor completed a needs study a couple of years ago, the preliminary cost estimate was $6,780,051 for a 39,000-square-foot building.
The site plans also included plenty of parking, a major concern for the commissioners when electing to purchase property away from the current courthouse and downtown site.
Both site plans that made the final cut had spots for 139 and 127 parking spaces. Also, the site plans included space for future parking lots featuring approximately 90 more spots.
Now that two plans have been selected, representatives of Treanor will spend the next couple of weeks tweaking the designs. During that time, the commissioners also will be reviewing the plans for possible changes.
While the designs include the areas where the county departments will be located, it's likely several offices could be moved for efficiency purposes. Treanor plans on having a more in-depth layout of each department possibly as soon at it meets again with the commissioners next month.
"We will know where we can shrink it or where we can't," Schmitz said. "Frequently, we can find inefficiencies we don't know we have. Some layouts are more efficient than others."
