Posted on January 01, 2011
By MICHELLE CASADY
The Brazos County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved moving ahead with plans to advertise a request for proposals from contractors interested in completing Phase III renovations on the courthouse.
Commissioner Kenny Mallard said a timeline doesn’t exist for when the selection will happen or when advertising will begin because the court has not received final plans for the project from Patterson Architects.
Phase II of construction is currently under way, he said, and should be completed by late this summer. It includes the renovation of the county clerk’s and county attorney’s offices.
Phase III will include the construction of a small detention facility on the ground floor and also the building of secure hallways on the other floors of the courthouse to allow for safe transport of inmates from courtroom to courtroom.
“It’s hard to have a timeline when you’re working on a remodel, because you can run into unexpected delays,” Mallard explained. “We’ve been blessed so far in that prices for materials have stayed low throughout the process, so we hope that continues.”
The commissioners had put the burn ban on the agenda for discussion but realized at the meeting that the current ban doesn’t expire until June 7. The issue was tabled for discussion at next week’s meeting.
Also at next week’s meeting, commissioners plan to discuss banning certain types of fireworks in advance of the Fourth of July celebrations.
The commissioners approved spending $21,012 on a new audio system for the Brazos Center and also approved spending $136,727 on courthouse furniture for the county clerk’s and district clerk’s offices as well as for Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 offices and the county attorney’s office.