Commissioners receive bids for annex roof, courtroom chairs

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

The Putnam County Commissioners received bids on two projects for county buildings at Monday's meeting, but made no move on either project.

County Planner Kim Hyten presented two quotes for replacing the roof at the Courthouse Annex. The possible costs of the new roof ranged from $136,860 to $298,130.

Five Star Commercial Roofing Inc. of Hartford City submitted a quote with three different options. A 10-year warranty roof is $136,860, 15-year is $148,320 and 20 year is $154,680.

Brazil-based Pell Roofing submitted a single quote for a 15-year warranty roof at a cost of $298,130. Additionally, Pell gave an estimate of replacing the metal underneath the roof, should it be necessary, at an added cost of $295,000.

However, citing the age and ongoing problems with the current annex, Commissioner President Gene Beck expressed no interest in either estimate.

"Right now, I'm not willing to vote to spend any money on this building, period," Beck said.

Hyten also presented quotes for refurbishing 56 chairs in the superior court. In the interest of maintaining the historic and aesthetic value of the room, Judge Denny Bridges would like to keep the antique chairs rather than finding replacements.

The chairs are currently in storage, with folding chairs temporarily taking their place. Hyten said at least eight of the chairs are damaged significantly.

Nelson's Furniture Restoration and Refin-ishing in Bloomington quoted a cost of $9,270, while Kasnak Rest-oration in Brownsburg gave a cost of $21,575. In both cases, the work includes stripping, sealing, varnishing and resealing the chairs.

With the major range in cost, Hyten said the biggest difference he found was in the labor costs: $40 per hour with Nelsons, and $75 per hour with Kasnak.

No move was made to accept either bid.

The commissioners also approved the formation of a redistricting board for Putnam County Council seats. The committee will be composed of Kelsey Kauffman, Marsha Carrington and Robbie Cudnik, with each of the three commissioners choosing a member from his or her district. They also approved hiring Cudnik to draw up the new district maps.

The need for redistricting came to the forefront in March, when Kauffman's DePauw class came before the commissioners and council to discuss the need for redistricting the county council in the interest of equal representation.

Council members who could be affected by the redrawn districts include Roger Deck, Darrel Thomas, Keith Berry and Dave Fuhrman.

At-large council members Larry Parker, Jay Fogle and Phil Gick will be unaffected by any potential change.

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  • Beckdoesn't want to spend any money on the annex because he wants to build a new court house annex. Not a good idea in these tough times!!!

    -- Posted by albert on Wed, Jun 8, 2011, at 4:26 PM
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