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County Engineer Josh Harvill gave an update on the courthouse and jail renovation project that the Chambers County Commission has been working on all year during this week’s commission work session. 

The commission approved the $2,751,000 contract with Whatley Construction of Opelika. The commission has contracted with JMR+H Architecture firm in Montgomery to help make the plans for the renovations.

The funding will come from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund. 

The Chambers County Detention Center roof project, according to Harvill, has been moving along well and should be done soon. Harvill said that the contractors were complimentary of Sheriff Jeff Nelson and his jail staff. 

“They’ve done an excellent job,” Harvill said. “The work that I saw looked really good. I’m no roofing expert, but that’s why you’ve got a team that’s inspecting all this for you.”

Harvill said that the contractor plans to be done with the jail in the next few weeks. 

Nelson told the commissioners some issues came up with the generators that run the exhaust fans. Some of the generators had been corroded and needed to be replaced at minimal expense, which the jail staff did. 

Harvill added that the contractors will be able to give the county information on what ongoing maintenance to look for in the future.

“I think they’re making great progress. I think we got a really good contract,” Harvill said. 

As for the courthouse roof, the project has had delays due to unavoidable personal issues with the contractor. However, Harvill said they will resume work on the project soon and plan to be complete it in the next week or so. 

Whatley contracted the roofing out to a contractor. 

“Once all the roofing is completed, it will be inspected to ensure that it’s been installed by the manufacturer’s recommendations and guidelines,” Harvill said. “Y’all do have that as a part of the contract, so we just haven’t gotten there yet.”

The other big project for the courthouse is the HVAC units. Harvill said they have been waiting on some items to come in and will be ready to start installing them soon. 

“A lot of those units have been in place. They just had some delays on some of the larger units, and need to get some of their other items out of the way, I think, before they started that,” Harvill said. 

They expect to be completed with installing the HVAC units by the second week in December. However, Harvill said there will be a draft while the crew is working on it. Part of that is due is because they will be working on the window sashes along with the HVAC systems. 

The sashes are a part of the windows that hold the window panes in place.

“There are going to be impacts to the offices there when we’re doing that,” Harvill warned. “But if y’all remember when we first assessed the courthouse, one of the biggest concerns we had was the deterioration around those windows. We thought we’d have to replace some of the windows completely, but as we worked through that, we were able to do more of the sashes and none of the windows.”

The doors at the historic part of the courthouse were refinished to address some of the weathering over the years.

As for the contingency items on the project, the architect has reviewed all of the estimates that have been provided by Whatley and has approved them all. 

“We’re moving forward with looking at samples on carpet and upholstery of the benches in the two courtrooms,” Harvill said.