Bartholomew courthouse renovations moving forward

The Bartholomew County courthouse will receive much needed HVAC upgrades and repairs under a proposal approved by the county commissioners this week.

The total project cost will be just under $3.28 million dollars and will include replacing chilling and hot water lines as well as air handling units. The current HVAC system was installed mostly in the 1990s according to county officials and much of it is in bad shape. The courthouse, built in the 1870s, was never designed for modern HVAC.

Dunlap and Co. from Columbus was the low builder with a base bid $3.375 million. The commissioners also approved several alternates including replacing the outdoor flood lights with color-changeable LED lighting and removing and replacing a chandelier that was part of the original building.

After also adopting some cost-saving measures, the total project was reduced by almost $200 thousand dollars. $2 million of the project funding will come from the county general fund, another $1 million from COVID relief funds and the rest from county economic development income tax revenue.