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LISBON -- Columbiana County commissioners authorized Commissioner Tim Weigle on Dec. 27 to sign the contract with C. Tucker Cope to design and build the new county archive/records storage building for nearly $7 million.
"We expect it to be done by the end of 2025," Weigle said.
Signing the contract for the project he's been spearheading was one of the last acts for Weigle as a county commissioner since he's now officially retired. His third and final four-year term ended Wednesday, with the term for new Commissioner Tim Ginter starting today.
Ginter's first meeting as commissioner is set for 9 a.m. Jan. 8 and includes a public hearing regarding the 1 percent sales tax.
The commissioners had recently given Weigle the power to negotiate the price with C. Tucker Cope after choosing the Columbiana firm to do the design/build project.
According to the contract, the guaranteed maximum price was set at $6,458,913 plus an additional $620,000 for allowances to possibly bring the total to $7,078,913.
In the same meeting, commissioners approved $4 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds toward the project cost.
Seven companies submitted proposals for the design-build contract, then the number was whittled down to three design-build firms who were interviewed, presented pricing proposals and were ranked by Weigle and representatives of the county engineer's office.
Besides C. Tucker Cope, the other two firms that were part of the final three included J Herbert Construction of Salem and Brock Builders Inc. of North Lima. The other four firms who had submitted proposals that were opened in September included Stitle Construction Corp. of Salem, Hively Construction Co. of Canfield, ms consultants of Youngstown and Baker Bednar Snyder & Assoc. Inc. of Warren.
At that time, Weigle explained that the proposals included statements of qualifications and they were scored based on experience and qualifications of the firm and key personnel, understanding the need of the project, past performance and references and proximity of consultant's office to Columbiana County.
The building will be constructed at the former location of the county Department of Job and Family Services, which is now a vacant lot.
The county-owned lot is bordered by East Chestnut Street to the north, North Nelson Avenue to the west and North Jefferson Street to the east.
Referring to the building as a records retention facility, Weigle previously said that any records the county is required by law to keep will be moved to the new building from the various locations where they're currently stored, such as the basement of the county jail and Iron Mountain, an underground secured storage facility in Pennsylvania.
According to Weigle, plans call for construction of a two-story, 24,600-square-foot, climate-controlled, secure block and brick building with a dry chemical fire suppression system, a commercial shredder and office space. He also said it will be designed with a freight elevator. The front of the building will face East Chestnut Street.
He said a branch of law enforcement will be located in the building.
Weigle explained that the project will begin with geo technical work, a fence will be installed around the site and the land will be excavated so construction can begin.
In other business, commissioners opened bids for slag, gravel, asphalt, limestone and ice control materials for 2025 for the county engineer's office. Companies submitting bids included Fritz, Kelly Paving, Mar-zane, Shelly Company, R&J Trucking and Soltis & Sons. The bids were referred to the county engineer's office for a recommendation.
The commissioners authorized county Engineer Bert Dawson to advertise for bids for the McCoy Avenue pump station replacement project in St. Clair Township, with electronic bids to be opened at 9 a.m. Feb. 5 at the engineer's office.
The commissioners also: authorized the county recorder to sign a user agreement for the program known as DocRouter Plus, a routing system for electronic documents; authorized the county auditor to sign a service agreement with Ideal Integrations, LLC for information technology infrastructure services; approved the county highway system mileage certification of 166.818 miles; authorized the county engineer to use professional services and county employees in the maintenance, repairs, construction of roads, bridges, culverts and other structures in the county in 2025; approved the re-hiring of Rachel Watkins of Kensington as an eligibility referral specialist II in the public assistance division of the county Department of Job and Family Services; and received notice of the termination of a case manager contract with Gillian Filaccio.