(Spirit Lake)– Delays on the first phase of the Dickinson county courthouse project are starting to count up…and it’s starting to affect the price tag of the project.
Originally the county was to move into the first phase of the new building already in December. That was pushed back to several dates in January. January came and went with even more delays. Now, it looks like it could be atleast March before the new building is ready for occupancy.
The latest delay was reported at Tuesday’s board of supervisors meeting, which followed a conference call involving the architect, county officials and the general contractor on the project.
The ongoing delays are becoming a source of frustration with the contract the county hired to remove asbetos from the old courthouse, County Attorney and Engineer buildings. The company was originally supposed to have started work last fall. But the continued delays mean it will now be atleast April before they can start asbestos abatement. And the contractor says his price is going up because of it. The original price was 44,900-dollars. But with the delays and increased cost of labor and materials, the contractor says his price is now going up to 51,335-dollars…and may go even higher if the delays continue.
