By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Small items continue to trickle in on the Barton County Courthouse HVAC Renovation Project. Staff returned to the 106-year-old building in mid-May, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held May 31. Tuesday morning, County Administrator Matt Patzner presented a change order to the commission for approval.
"Barton County has received notice of work completed by Brentwood Builders outside the scope of the original HVAC Project plans," he said. "Work areas include the roof, break room, clerk's office, treasurer's office, and restrooms."
Barton County will pay Brentwood Builders $52,933.34 for the work. Commissioner Shawn Hutchinson said the work was necessary.
"I just hate the word 'change order,'" he said. "It makes it sound like we went over budget on things we had bid out. But that's not the case here. These were things we added to the scope of the work once we started getting into the job. Any time you've torn apart a 100-year-old building, you realize there are a few things you probably want to do while it's torn apart, like adding roof access, for instance."
With two change orders approved since the ribbon cutting, the project price tag now sits at $5,122,433.