(Photo by Amber Phipps) The Washington County Courthouse is experiencing elevator renovations that are 75% completed.

The Washington County Commission decided to table two change orders for the courthouse elevator as a result of an unexpected $97,538.67 in additional costs.

The elevator renovations have been ongoing at the courthouse and Commissioner Charlie Schilling stated that the project is 75% completed.

“Why now are we seeing an $85,000 change order,” Commissioner James Booth said. His concern was that they began the project on the basis of established codes, so why was it changing at this point in the process? The change order is a result of a replacement in inspector along with construction additions of $85,205 proposed by Veregy and anticipated worker costs of $12,333.67 from West Virginia Elevator.

“I really don’t feel like we have enough information now to approve this type of change order,” said Schilling. “In the sense that we’re 75% complete through this entire project at this point and now we have a change order of $85,000 to perform this work.”

Booth added that they contracted when they did because they were allowed to go with the old codes and now new codes are taking effect when that wasn’t what was communicated.

(Photo by Amber Phipps) The elevators in the courthouse are being renovated by West Virginia Elevator and Veregy. A change order from both companies asked for a combined total of $97,538.67 in additional costs.

“We take it very seriously, we’re talking about between the two of them the total is almost $100,000. This isn’t our money and we don’t just spend it because it’s there,” said Booth.

Also discussed at Thursday’s meeting was the travel request for Schilling and Booth on May 19 for a county commission conference at the White House.

“The White House is going to confer with county commissioners throughout the whole United States but Ohio is the first state that will have that leadership conference, and it’s an honor,” said Booth.

Schilling added that he’s looking forward to attending and sharing county initiatives happening in southeast Ohio.

Philip Schaffer with the Grant Department elaborated on the Memorandum of Agreement to hire a “qualified environmental professional who will look at brownfield sites in Washington County, Pike County and Guernsey County.”

(Photo by Amber Phipps) There were no representatives from West Virginia Elevator or Veregy at the Washington County Commission meeting on Thursday to discuss change orders with the commission.

Through the grant, the professional will assess the brownfield sites in the three counties and perform functional tasks like cleanup, site development and inventory preparation.

The grant consists of $1.5 million for the assessment of all three counties with $150,000 admin fees built in for indirect costs. Schilling thanked Schaffer for his leadership on the program.

“Once it’s approved by you all today…it’ll take about 30 days for proposals to come in,” said Schaffer.

The sewer department requested a credit card account to pay for utilities and avoid late fees from the auditor. Clerk Ben Cowdery stated that it might be easier if they had their own.

“Our intention is to work around the auditor’s system, incur whatever fee may come as far as utility payments, and basically pay all the utilities with the credit card,” said County Engineer Roger Wright.

The commission agreed to table the decision until after the next meeting. Wright also stated that if they decide to hire a mail service to pick up the checks and deliver it before the deadline, then they wouldn’t require a credit card.

Additional agenda items included:

≤Approval of CORSA annual participation agreement for property and liability insurance.

≤Ohio Department of Transportation awarded the county commissioners with $260,000 from the 5311 Rural Transit Program; the commission has been waiting on this money.

≤Sheriff Mark Warden reminded everyone May 4-10 is correction officer week.

≤Tanks haven’t been installed in Devola yet, Wright stated that they’re still working on yard restoration.

≤Darrin Adams with the Ohio Department of Veterans Services recognized May 8 as Victory Day and reminded people of Memorial Day events.

≤Alice Stewart with children services thanked the commission and the voters for passing the additional tax levy for Washington County Children’s Services.