At their meeting on Jan. 17, the Box Butte County Commissioners discussed the options for repairing the elevator at the Box Butte County Courthouse.
Terry Curtiss, with the Box Butte County Attorney’s Office, explained that in reviewing an agreement with Berggren Architects, he maintained concerns about the project.
“I still have a deep concern that there’s too many unknowns, and those unknowns fall on the county, not the bidder for the project,” said Curtiss.
Commissioner Steve Burke said that in discussing the project with Jerry Berggren, owner of Berggren Architects, they were looking into the hydraulic aspect, as well as information on groundwater.
“If they get into the groundwater, they’re going to have to put a sleeve in, and that could be an added cost,” Burke said. “That’s something they’re trying to figure out now, before it goes to bid, if that’s going to be a problem or not. According to the letter we got from the engineer, the only wall they’re looking to move is the north one, and he is saying moving it 12 inches will not be a problem, and he actually says if we needed to move it more, we probably could, but the letter was for 12 inches since they were asking for 10-12.”
Burke said if they were needing to move the wall more than two feet, it could lead to other complications in the project. Curtiss asked how the hydraulic option would affect the dog house for the elevator.
“There would be no need for the dog house,” said Burke. “The top of the dog house could be taken off. There might be a little bit of space up there you would need for above the elevator, but where the actual dog house is will not be necessary because everything will be below. They’ll drill a hole in the basement to put the ram in.”
Curtiss said ADA compliance is paramount in this project, noting that it is one of the biggest concerns regarding the elevator repair.
“That’s what concerns me about both architects and contractors is, we’re doing this to make sure you’re ADA compliant, and nobody wants to guarantee that when it’s done it will be ADA compliant,” said Curtiss. “I want them to affirmatively state ‘this is ADA compliant.’”
The commissioners called Berggren and asked to clarify some of aspects of the agreement. The first question Burke asked is if the county would be billed every time someone does an inspection or if that is part of the contract. Berggren said the number of visits would be included in the agreement.
Burke then asked for an assurance or guarantee that if they go this route the project will result in the courthouse having an ADA compliant elevator without having to move more walls.
“The requirements of our specifications is that it complies with ADA,” said Berggren. “The best I can say right now is we believe only the north wall will have to move.”
Berggren said that once they dive into the project more they will be able to determine whether the east wall will also have to move. Berggren said that capacity of the elevator does not factor into ADA compliance.
After further discussion, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve the Owner-Architect Contract with Berggren Architects contingent upon specifying ADA compliance and the cost of having to move another wall or ordering a special elevator car not be borne by the county.