Circling the bowl: $225,700
LISA HOBBS
News Editor
Warren County Financial Management Committee met to consider bids received for construction of additional restrooms at Three Star Mall, those offers ranged from $225,700 to $375,676.
“Approve the Broadband Facility Restrooms bid,” said County Executive Terry Bell, reading from the agenda. “RT Builders was the cheapest at $225,700.”
Other bidders: Boyce Ballard Construction $239,900; Skilled Services $284,400; Tandem Construction $375,676.
“Terry, do you have any references on this company,” questioned Commissioner Scott Rubley, to which Bell replied, “All I have is what Allen [Hill] sent me. He talked to them. He claims there’s no objection for awarding the bid, so that clears the way for us to accept that low bid. We have to send this off to the state before we can use the grant money to do this. It requires state approval.”
Hill is with Upland Design Group, an architectural firm which assists Warren County Government with construction projects.
Warren County Way reached out to Finance Department Director Justin Cotten after the meeting for additional details.
“When we did the health department, that grant called for at least 25,000 square feet of space. Well, Penny’s is about 34,000 square feet. We did not have the money in the health department grant to completely build and fill out 34,000 square feet. They were okay with us buying that space and using some of it for another project, because it’s not the majority of the space that we bought. At the end of the day, the health department took up 28,000 square feet and that left us with approximately 6,000 square feet.”
That remaining space will be used for a community room, similar to that of the Magnolia Room or the Early Voting Room at the Warren County Administrative Building on Locust Street, but much larger.
Due to the room’s size, additional public bathrooms are required.
“The engineer says it will be more cost effective to put new bathrooms out in the hall, rather than try to fix the old bathrooms in Penney’s,” said Cotten. “It’s more than just the cost, it’s logistics. Because of the way the inside of Penney’s is cut up, if you leave through the emergency exit out the back of the building, you have to go into shared corridor space with the health department. They felt it would cause some logistical issues. So, instead, they are going to build restrooms in the common area of the mall.”
The ADA-compliant bathrooms are proposed for the back corridor by J’s Restaurant, but opposite from it.
“When you come in the glass back doors, the restrooms will be on your left,” stated Cotten.
Bell, as well as commissioners Rubley, Brad Hillis and Cole Taylor approved accepting the lowest bid from RT Builders. The measure must be presented to the full Warren County Commission for final approval.
Absent from the meeting were Road Superintendent Levie Glenn, Director of Schools Dr. Grant Swallows and Commissioner Christy Ross.