By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The HVAC Renovation Project is winding down at the Barton County Courthouse. All staff moved from the building to three satellite locations in Great Bend last July. Tuesday morning, the county commission heard from County Administrator Matt Patzner about hiring a firm to move county employees back into the building. The county received three bids for the work.
"My recommendation after following up on some references is to go with Armstrong Moving Company," Patzner said. "They've moved the city of Tulsa. They've moved some school districts in Tulsa. Looking at some of the moves they've done in the past, this would not even be near the biggest move they've done. Their references checked out. Everybody I talked to had nothing but good things to say about them."
Tulsa-based Armstrong submitted a bid of $49,700 and expects the move to be completed in six days. Another firm submitted a bid for more than $119,000 with a 16-day completion, and the third submitted a bid for $86,000 that would take 10-14 days. Armstrong employees will help set up the return to the courthouse anticipated by late May.
"We have to do our end of it, also," Patzner said. "They're going to come in and train staff on how to label things. They're going to provide the labels and boxes. They have a specific way we need to do it so, essentially on moving day, they can come in and things will just start flying out the doors and start flying in the doors."
Last week, the commission approved a change order of $67,311.66 for elevator upgrades at the courthouse. That moved the total project price tag to nearly $4.84 million.