(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors are thinking about having another study done on the structural integrity of the 1892 portion of the courthouse.
Supervisor Paul Johnson says he’s contacted four licensed structural engineers at the request of fellow board members and provided them with copies of the State Fire Marshall’s report.
Johnson says a new study on the building’s integrity would be much more comprehensive than one that was done in 1996. He says the engineers he’s visited with want to take samples of the footings and analyze them. Johnson says they also want to look under the masonry, among other things. The cost of such an in-depth study isn’t known.
The supervisors took no action on the matter Monday. They’re trying to decide if a committee should be formed to interview engineering firms and make a recommendation to the board on who to hire, or if the the supervisors themselves should select an engineer and a committee be appointed that would oversee the engineer’s work and make a report to the supervisors. The supervisors will take up the matter again Tuesday, March 4th.
Johnson says the goal is to come up with a proposal that would be included in a bond issue that would go to the voters this summer.
