By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Architects and engineers will make a few more adjustments to the final
plans, but a proposal for a new heating, ventilating and air conditioning
(HVAC) system should be coming soon for the Barton County Courthouse.
Three of the Barton County Commissioners met with architects and engineers last
Thursday to go over drawings, details and any tweaks.
While the county has set aside funding for the massive HVAC overhaul, the
commissioners understood the importance of getting a plan in motion because of
the price of inflation for any project.
DMA Architects Owner Don Marrs said he expects a final design, with bids,
ready for the commission’s approval by Thanksgiving.
"We can allow the contractors to give the bid based on a price, and they tell us how long that price is firm for," said Marrs. "Meaning, they need to get the equipment ordered within that window. There are some ways of writing this so we can mold it to today's bidding environment."
The courthouse was constructed 104 years ago, and no major renovation to the
HVAC system has taken place since 1979.
Gerit Garman, Orazem & Scalora Engineering principal, said the new HVAC
will be a big upgrade and increase ventilation in the courthouse and improve
the air quality.
"This courthouse now has periods of times where it can't be in heating or cooling mode with a two-pipe system," said Garman. "You're either in one mode or the other, and people are uncomfortable. Maybe you need heat in the morning and cooling in the afternoon, and you have neither. The new HVAC will have simultaneous heating and cooling all year round."
Barton County is also considering renovations to the fourth floor of the
courthouse to add office space for the county attorney’s office.
The county has funding for the project but hopes to use American Rescue Plan
Act (ARPA), federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funds, to assist with the expense.
The county is also exploring the possibility of registering the courthouse on
the National Register of Historic Places to receive tax credits.