Courthouse Project Recommendations go to Full Council
WINNSBORO – Fairfield County Council’s ad hoc committee for the County Courthouse voted Monday evening to recommend to the full Council a project manager for Courthouse renovations and an architect for the Courthouse’s temporary location.
The committee, composed of Council Chairman David Ferguson and Council members Carolyn Robinson and Kamau Marcharia, voted 3-0 to recommend Greenwood architectural and engineering firm Davis & Floyd to oversee the renovations and Lexington architectural firm Mead & Hunt to provide the design for the temporary quarters. Davis & Floyd will cost the County approximately $104,000, according to Milton Pope, Interim County Administrator. Pope said Council had the option of putting the work back out for bid, but since the County has already spent nearly $40,000 with the firm for preliminary work, and since the firm already has everything in place to begin work, he recommended Davis & Floyd.
Timing also played a role in Pope’s recommendation. Funds for the Courthouse renovations are coming directly from the County’s 2012 bond issue of $24.06 million, and with 36 months from the date of the issue to spend that money, Pope said even sticking with Davis & Floyd “would be cutting it close.”
“We want to make sure we fully utilize the money that we already spent for the preliminary work,” Pope told the committee.
The cost of Mead & Hunt has yet to be negotiated, Pope said later.
Mead & Hunt will redesign the HON Building, located on Highway 321 N. near the Midlands Tech campus, into which the Courthouse offices will move prior to renovations getting under way. Mead & Hunt’s design has to be approved by Council, Clerk of Court Betty Jo Beckham and Chief Justice Jean Toal of the S.C. State Supreme Court before a contract with HON’s current occupants, the S.C. State Emergency Preparedness Office, can be finalized. Mead & Hunt is the same firm with which the County contracted last year to provide a study and recommendation for the Courthouse relocation for $15,575.
The committee said renovations may not even begin on the Courthouse for another year. The full Council will take up the committee’s recommendations at their July 14 meeting.
