Nov 4, 2022 3 min read

The Washington County commissioners approved a $2.6 million construction bid to build a new courtroom inside the courthouse and renovate another one.

The board unanimously agreed during its Thursday meeting to the bid from Cecil Township-based Stonemile Group LLC for the courthouse project after a first round of bids came in above the estimated $3 million budget.

Construction crews will convert the former register of wills and prothonotary offices on the courthouse’s first floor into Courtroom No. 7 with a judge’s chambers and staff office. The expansion was needed after Washington County Court of Common Pleas expanded to seven judges in 2019, prompting the courthouse’s law library to be converted into a temporary courtroom.

“It’s been a long time in the making for us,” Court Administrator Patrick Grimm said.

The cost is higher than original projections in February before the full scope of the project was known and supply costs increased, but it came within budget from what the county was expecting after putting it out to bid this summer. The original two bids from Stonemile and Cleveland-based A.M. Higley both were above $3 million, so county officials rejected them and put the project out to bid again.

“While we lost some time (bidding again), we ended up getting better and more accurate bids,” county Purchasing Director Randy Vankirk said. “They sharpened their pencils.”

Stonemile’s base bid was $2.46 million, but the county also selected an additional $150,000 option to have the work performed at night when the courthouse is closed and legal business isn’t being conducted. Vankirk said that decision was made for both logistical and safety reasons because of the noise during construction and the potential danger to the public being near an active work zone, including two 20-foot-long beams that must be brought through a window to support the new courtroom.

“We do not want to jeopardize safety,” Vankirk said. “It’s quite a project.”

In addition to building a new courtroom, which will be able to hold about 50 people in the gallery and offer modern technological amenities, workers will also renovate Courtroom No. 6 on the first floor. Along with making upgrades to that courtroom, officials will convert a portion of the space into an enclosed conference room that can be used by jurors during their breaks or deliberations. There will also be security upgrades in other areas of the building.

Grimm said the work is expected to begin in three or four months – depending on when the massive steel beams can be fabricated – and Courtroom No. 7 will hopefully be ready for legal proceedings before the end of 2023. The other courtroom’s renovations and security upgrades will be made during other phases of the project, Grimm said.

“Some of the work they’ll do at the same time,” he said.

Grimm, whose office is adjacent to the new courtroom, is hopeful construction over the next year won’t affect the usual business that’s conducted in the courthouse thanks to the evening work hours.

“We can keep the public separated from construction. It just makes a lot of sense to do the project at night,” Grimm said.

The project will be paid for using federal American Rescue Plan Act stimulus money.

Commission Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan said they are happy that the rebidding process brought the cost of the project down and within the county’s budget.

“We know all building costs have gone up since the pandemic so I’m glad we’ll be able to complete this project under our anticipated budget,” she said.