The Marshall County Commissioners received an update Wednesday morning concerning additional costs needed to repair the Courthouse Clock Tower.
In order to replace metal and rotted wood at the Clock Tower, the additional cost estimate is $1,494,246. That was presented in the form of a change order for consideration by the commissioners in a specially-called public meeting Wednesday morning.
Midwest Maintenance, Inc. Project Manager Jamie Giguere said Foreman/Supervisor Jerry Hazeltine discovered rotten wood when metal was moved.
Giguere said, “…and then they started to do some paint stripping and then they start removing some of the paint and large chunks of wood were coming with it. I told them to stop. I asked Jerry to go up there and do a better investigation with screwdrivers and knives. When he went up there he started taking screwdrivers and they were going straight through. He could actually take columns apart with his bare hands. We found out that 70 to 80 percent of that barrel of the dome was just rotten.”
Giguere said temporary repairs or repairs made with metal over the years caused condensation to occur which caused the damage to the wood.
The contractors reached out to Brian Stull with Stull Woodworks in Troy, Ohio who recommends the clock tower dome replacement to be made out of Accoya, or a white pine. He explained it grows in a plantation and when it is harvested it goes through a process where the sugars and bacteria are removed to create a sustainable product.
“It stays straight, it doesn’t warp or shrink like a lot of woods today,” stated Stull. “They’re guaranteed 50 years and they’re even guaranteeing it 30 years underwater. We’ve been using it quite a bit here in the last 10 years. All of the information that I have available today I still think it’s our best value. To me, it’s the best that there is available and that’s why I recommended it.”
The wood cost would be about $246,000. It would be harvested from New Zealand and shipped to the Netherlands and then to the United States.
Stull said the company will be working over the winter to detail the wood to make all replacement pieces look like what the pieces currently depict.
“You will get every detail exactly as it is right now,” assured Stull.
The columns may be rebuilt a little differently, but they will look the same. Some subsiding may be installed to protect the interior of the courthouse.
Pieces of wood that can be salvaged may be available for historians looking to preserve an original piece of the courthouse.
In addition to the woodwork on the Clock Tower, a beam underneath the stairs on the east side of the courthouse would be replaced at a cost of $39,742 which was presented in a change order.
The commissioners approved both change orders as presented.
In the meantime, the contract with the contractor will be revised to show a change in the time allowed for completion of the entire project. Giguere said general work on the courthouse structure, including limestone cleaning and masonry work, new windows, and painting, should be finished by October 31. The Clock Tower work will be extended to a completion date at the end of July 2022. The scaffolding will be taken down this fall and rebuilt in May when workers resume work on the Clock Tower.
Ongoing maintenance will need to be scheduled to ensure the quality of the structure in the future.
Auditor Julie Fox noted that the cost for these repairs is reflected in the 2022 budget. So far, over $310,000 has been spent on the project.
