$2.02 million renovation to top of Allegany County Office Building OK’d – Olean Times Herald

BELMONT For the first time in more than a decade, Allegany County officials plan to get the top floor of the Allegany County Office Building back to usable condition.

Legislators voted 12-2 in favor of $2.02 million in contracts for the renovations on Monday, with Legislators Tim OGrady, R-Wellsville, and Norm Ungermann, R-Cuba, in opposition. Legislator Charles Jessup, R-Alfred Station, was absent.

The approved contracts include:

A $764,000 contract with Holdsworth Klimowski Construction of Victor for general contracting on the project. The bid is below the roughly $864,000 estimated by LaBella.

A $302,000 contract with Concord Electrical Corp. of Rochester for electrical work. The bid was not the lowest submitted, but a $298,800 bid from Painted Post-based Schuler-Haas Electric Corp. was disqualified because the firm had not submitted a non-collusive bidding certificate. The bid was above the $214,590 estimated by LaBella.

A $273,000 contract with Mazza Mechanical Services, Inc., of Olean for mechanical work. The bid was below the $431,125 projected by LaBella.

A $76,400 contract with John W. Danforth Co. of Tonawanda for plumbing work. The bid was the highest of two bids, but above the $74,750 projected by LaBella.

All together, the bids came in at $1.42 million, or about $169,000 under estimates.

Legislator Kevin LaForge, C-Wellsville, abstained from voting, as his firm, LaForge Disposal Services Inc., has worked with the companies previously. Ungermann abstained from voting on the mechanical work, noting he has worked with Mazza Mechanical on several occasions.

In addition to funds for the third floor contracts, county officials are setting aside:

$50,000 for elevator repair;

$71,000 for LaBella as clerk of the works;

$26,000 for third floor control replacement; and

$452,600 to renovate the space on the first floor that will be freed up by the offices moving to the third floor.

The space to be renovated, officials said, will be used by the public defenders office, Department of Social Services administration and other offices, while the first floor of the building will be used for intake of those needing county services.

Space needs have become critical in the building, said county Administrator Tim Boyde.

There is literally a person down there working in a closet, Boyde said. We will be able to spread out and better serve the county.

But some legislators disagreed with using the third floor, which until about 10 years ago was the county jail.

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This isnt going to begin to give us the space we need, Ungermann said. I think were better off taking that money and put it with some other money and build a building off campus.

OGrady recommended the county look to the countys public safety complex on Route 19 south of Belmont as a possible site.

We never explored the option of alleviating the parking and finding a building, OGrady said, adding he has been in opposition to buying old houses on Court Street, upgrading the elevator to the third floor and other expenses to keep county offices on Table Knoll without looking at other sites.

Legislator Karl Graves, R-Wellsville, said the move keeps with the original purpose of the office building, constructed in 1976.

I remember the justification they used at the time they wanted to centralize all the functions of the county government, Graves said.

He added the rennovation would make good use of the space on the top floor.

I dont know where youre going to find (the space), except on top of this building, Graves said.

Graves also said that with the county holding more than the equivalent of 20 percent of its annual budget in reserves, the county could do the work without borrowing like it did for the $14 million courthouse renovation in the late 2000s or the public safety complex a few years earlier.

Now is the time to do it because we can afford it, he said. Down the road, we might not be able to afford it.

(Contact reporter-editor Bob Clark at bclark@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @OTHBob)

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$2.02 million renovation to top of Allegany County Office Building OK'd - Olean Times Herald