Commissioners discuss IT, furniture, move in dates

COLUMBUS – Despite extremely cold temperatures and some snow, construction on Polk County’s new law enforcement facility is still on schedule to be complete by the end of February.

The Polk County Board of Commissioners met Jan. 22 and heard from Paul Luzier, with Moseley Architects.

Luzier said progress has been moving pretty well since the holidays with a couple of weeks of cold temperatures slowing the progress on the outside of the building.

Luzier said sidewalks and paving should begin in the upcoming weeks. There is heat in the building and permanent lighting as well as a lot of finish work that has taken place.

Overall, Luzier said the project was 92 percent complete.

Luzier also said the contractor has stayed on top of his subcontractors to keep on schedule and has had to rearrange the schedule but is making it work.

Commissioner vice chair Myron Yoder asked if the county could go in with the IT equipment after the end of February completion date. County manager Marche Pittman said there is the sheriff’s office side of the building and the jail side of the building and Moseley will handle security on the jail side. Polk County will handle the rest of the building, Pittman said.

Commissioner chair Jake Johnson asked when the county will have the staff moved in and operational.

Pittman said the delivery day on the furniture will affect the move in date as well as when the county can get a state occupancy inspection.

“I would like to think March or April,” Pittman said. “If the stars align, it could be March.”

Pittman added that he’s not convinced the project won’t see another date pushed given the weather.

Polk County took out a $13.5 million loan to construct the new law enforcement center, which will include a new jail and sheriff’s office.

The new jail will be a 60-bed facility, compared to the current jail, constructed in the 1970s, which is a 25-bed facility.

The county purchased 19.19 acres of property adjacent to the Milliken plant just outside Columbus Town Limits for $1,950,000 and another 2.6 acres off Park Street for $125,000 for a total land purchase price of $2,075,000 to construct the new law enforcement center. The purchase price included site preparation for the new law enforcement center. Some of the property was purchased for future needs, such as a new courthouse and possible administrative offices.

The construction bid to hire Cooper Construction was $9,603,350.