Historic Courthouse's Makeover Under Budget

The facelift on the state’s oldest courthouse in use will continue ahead of schedule and under budget.

Sheriff Kevin Doyle told the Putnam County board Monday that the construction estimates for what would have been Phase 3 of the restoration project would come in around $57,000 under what was initially projected.

Kurt Rimmele of Basaley, Carey, and Alstadt Architects explained the much lower number to the board.

Rimmele said after further inspection, many of the bricks and concrete first thought to need replacement would only need repair. Rimmele also said by speeding up the project, originally projected to take four years, many costs would be considerably less.

“We originally looked at attacking the project over four years, but by doing it more quickly we took out the price escalation in my estimate,” said Rimmele. “As an overall savings on the construction end of it, from our original construction estimate, it would be $57,881 to date.” Architectural fees will also be $15,000 less than originally estimated.

“We thought this would be a good time to bring this to the board and take advantage of the cost savings,” said Rimmele.

Board member Willie Holmes was the vote against continuing the project. Rimmele believed the project should be finished by May 29.

Demolition
County zoning officer Jim Burger told the board he would be splitting the demolition zoning changes in to multiple categories and would bring the changes as well as the application to the board at a later date to vote on as a package.

Economic development
Jeff Clawson, Princeton city manager, and Kevin Coleman, Hennepin mayor, gave a presentation to the board about the Economic Development Corp. of North Central Illinois. The board will be receiving an official letter asking them to join in the near future, according to Clawson. 

Cost is about $5,000 annually.

Source: News Tribune