The Marshall County Board of Supervisors approved over $700,000 in additional change orders on the courthouse project and discussed the findings from interviews with former employees at the treasurer’s office during Tuesday morning’s regular meeting.
In all, the board voted to approve $707,355.62 in change orders, the vast majority of which — about $604,000 — will cover exterior masonry. According to a cost breakdown provided in the agenda packet, the county will be responsible for just over $321,000 of the masonry costs, while the insurer EMC will cover just shy of $283,000. Other major expenses in the latest change order include about $67,000 for audio-video materials and labor in the boardroom (all the county’s responsibility), exterior wood doors at a total cost of $28,521.90 (mostly paid by EMC), a $5,943.56 reduction in the cost for ballistic walls and $5,769.50 in plumbing corrections from the previous contractor billed as damages.
Board Chairman Dave Thompson and Buildings and Grounds Director Lucas Baedke said all of the items except for one — an amount between $11,000 and $13,000 for a display of the 135-year-old historic doors that would fall on the county to pay for — are already in the project budget, and the supervisors ultimately voted to approve the display as part of the entire package.
“The bulk of this is an idea we had to take our historic exterior doors and use them as kind of a focal point in the rotunda,” Baedke said. “The plan is to put them in the...
Early voting in the U.S. midterm elections is underway. Voters are deciding which party will control Congress, as well as numerous state legislatures and governors' offices. Snopes' fact-checker...