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Twigs and Branches
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Courthouse Renovation & Addition 2002-2003A synopis as presented in the Bloomfield News, Evening World, Linton Daily. Greene County Daily World and elsewhere. This is today's newsbut it is tomorrow's history Sept 5, 2002 Groundbreaking - Tuesday’s was a momentous occasion as overjoyed county officials, proud citizens, anxious government officials gathered in order to official begin the court house renovation/building project… It has taken 10 years to get to this point. . . On the Crowe-Chezik.com site this is found:
Jan 9, 2003 – has been reported on the $10 million Greene county court house Renovation and Addition project… United Consulting Engineers & Architects, Indianapolis. . . .the project is lagging behind schedule slightly but he didn’t term that unusual for a project of this size and scope. We are behind because of some initial issues like the sanitary sewer that we had to relocate and other peripheral issues… anticipates the project to be completed in mid-2004. . . .general contractor Weddle Brothers of Bloomington are involved in augercast piling foundations with 21 of 127 drillings complete. . . .that part of the project to be finished about Jan. 17 weather permitting. . . .An existing cistern at the site, located on the south side of the courthouse, was removed this week. . .fine grading for foundation work will begin Jan. 20 with form and pour pile caps and grade beam work starting about Jan. 22. Among change orders considered by the Greene county commissioners on Tuesday was:
a 38 day calendar extension was requested along with 22 days for floor elevation discrepancies and nine calendar days for survey work. . . Jan. 16, 2003 . . work was halted last Thursday after word crews, engineers and county officials became alarmed when more than a dozen cracks developed inside the courthouse structure indicating a shift in the building’s foundation. Official’s have declared the building safe for employees and patrons, although the piling work has stopped and is not set to resume until the foundation is stabilized. The work is expected to take about 30 days to complete. May 8, 2003 – Courthouse Work to start again today – The Greene County Courthouse remains stable - Work on the building was expected to resume today. . .The courthouse woes are apparently the result of a combination of the unstable, sandy ground, the 1885 building was constructed on, the construction work, and a large amount of ran and moisture in the ground this winter – causing the foundation to shift and the cracks to appear. . . May 15, 2003 – Courthouse towers questioned – In the original renovation plans, the towers were to be built on each corner of the north roof of the courthouse, at a cost of about $750,000. The towers were meant to restore the old building to the way it looked in 1885 when it was built, and to retain its historic look. However, those plans were drawn up and approved long before problems began on the project. . . An old clock tower on the north side of the building will remain in place. . .given the problematic sandy soil the courthouse sits on, it wouldn’t be wise to add the weight of the towers to the weight of the building. . . - - Project Moving forward – . . .work is under way that hopefully will get the stalled renovation project back on track. Compaction grouting is being done in an effort to stop the south wall of the building's foundation from further shifting. The 118-year old brick building was built on sandy soil. At the beginning of the project preparing a footer for a addition to the south side of the building, when the spoil was excavated from the south wall foundation, it shifted,. Cracks the appeared in the south and east walls of the three-story building. . .in all the foundation has shifted about an inch and a half. Engineers said compaction grouting or injecting concrete in and under the foundation wall, would stabilize the soil. . ." selective repair" to the outside brick veneer, which was put onto the building in 1953, and putting tie-rod assemblies and plates on the southeast and southwest stairwells at six levels, as well as temporary channels on the outside of the stairwell, to "tie it together’ hold it in place while the south side addition is being built. The channels would later be removed and replaced this a plate and tie rods, which would be left. . . The courthouse project includes:
The Commissioners had originally asked for a bond issue slightly over $11.5 million for the project but on August 15, 2002, the Greene County Council approved a 25-year, $10.5 million dollar bond issue, forcing the planners to cut about $1 million from the project plans. . .the main mass of the building has not moved – only the stairwell has. . .You guys overlooked the most critical part of this whole thing – it’s right under that foundation. – there is three to five feet of loose sand under the building. . . May 22, 2003 – A $10.5 million renovation project at the Greene County courthouse is apparently set to move forward again after a two month delay…Soil samples were taken at the beginning of the project that reportedly proved the soil was sandy. The building was constructed in 1885 in the center of town, in an area that was once a ravine but had been filled in. However, the building stood solid until the renovation project began…. June 12 & 19, 2003 – The Greene County Building Corporation will conduct a special meeting Thursday morning to look into hiring an outside engineer and other professionals to address damages to the courthouse addition/renovation project. July 10, 2003 The Courthouse debate - . . .are waiting on information from Robert Crooks, a structural engineer hired by the Indianapolis firm of Drewry, Simmons, Pitts and Vornehm, to give the county an independent view of damages to the courthouse and review repair plans. . . The courthouse issue – who is at fault and who will pay for the damages – will very likely wind up in court… A letter will be sent to all the companies involved in the courthouse project – United, DLZ and Weddle Brothers – notifying them of an " errors and omissions" filing… The outer brick walls of the stairwell, on the south side of the building, cracked in several places shortly after work began on the south lawn, apparently the result of movement in the south foundation… reconstruction the south stairwell of the building would cost, in rough estimate, $206,000 – and to demolish the stairwell completely rebuilt it an estimated $898.000… Those change orders were:
Aug. 28, 2003 – The stalled courthouse renovation/addition project may be restarted soon – when and if county officials get their legal questions answered and give approval to go ahead with the project. Problems began soon after dirt was excavated from the south foundation at the beginning of the project last fall. The old foundation shifted several inches, causing cracks to appear in the south and east walls of the building, mostly in the stairwell. Those cracks then spread to other parts of the three-story brick building… The project is supposed to cost approximately $10.5 million and county officials do not want to exceed that figure… The stairwell area, which protrudes on the buildings south side, had significant settling and cracking since the project began. The cracks in the brick walls, which have appeared in several other parts of the building, are apparently the result of the foundation shifting on the south side after workers excavated the soil from the foundation – the first phase in the building a planned south side addition… ...permission has been received from the State Fire Marshalls office as well as from the Building Commission, to close the south stairwells, one side at a time, to allow needed repairs… Sept. 11, 2003 The word on the stalled courthouse renovation/addition project is the same as its been for months – actually, two words – " on hold"…Work on the project has been stalled for several months after the south wall of the foundation shifted, causing cracks to appear in several places in building, especially on the south and east ends, and some bricks to fall off the outer brick veneer…re-inspected by WJE Engineering of Chicago for any further damage, and according to Taylor, the engineers " saw no significant changes" since the inspection of March 2003. They recommended going on with the repair work on the stairwell on the south side, which includes tie rods and epoxy injection grouting in the stairwells. . . .County officials would like to keep the project at $10.5 million… Sept 25. - …" On hold" has become synonymous with the project. Work on the courthouse ground to a sudden halt early this summer after the south foundation wall shifted as some excavation was being done on the south wall as well as several inside walls,… the three-story building, which was built on sandy soil… The delays are costing money. A month of survey monitoring – to detect any further movement in the building – cost $1,509 from July 19 to Aug. 18. Taylor noted that purchasing the monitoring station from the company that owns it would be $6,427 " at this point … that includes 50 percent credit for rental that were paid on it up until now. "It’s costing us $52.60 per week day," he explained. Work is expected to resume on the courthouse once legal issues – who is responsible for paying which added expenses – are ironed out. " It would seem we would want to keep that (monitoring) station until after the auger cast piling is completed" . . . It has been discussed that we will continue to monitor the building for movement throughout the time that addition is being constructed. . . They then voted 3-0 to approved Change Order 37 and 38:
29 Oct 2003 (Wed) - Project takes a new twist - The delayed and beleaguered Greene County Courthouse project will, soon take a new direction....Commissioners are expected to terminate their contract with courthouse renovation project manager Todd Taylor when it meets Monday morning.... a "change in direction" is needed to get the delayed $10.5 million project moving again....Little work was been done at the site since early March...The project was first delayed in early January when a series of "cracks" appeared on the interior wall of the south side of the courthouse structure...Work was stopped, and the workers pulled off the job, after the foundation shifted...Project engineers say the building remains safe for occupancy... 4 Nov 2003 (Tues.) - Officials Hire mew manager...The new manager, Jim Cory will work with Todd Taylor, the United Consulting engineer who has overseen the problematic $10.5 million project for the past year....The three companies hired to do the renovation/addition project are Weddle Brothers Construction, United Consulting Engineers and DLZ...The shoring issue is up in arms...The soil on the south side of the building had to be shored up, or strengthened, after the foundation moved. The ground the courthouse sits on is sandy...DLZ does not like the shoring design proposed by United Consulting Engineers. " They're saying it's not forgiving enough...that it the building moves now the shoring we have proposed would be damaging to the building...and that kind of ties out hands."...Taylor believes the shoring issue can be worked out. " I've got to believe there's a method that thing can be shored that would satisfy Weddle Brothers for safety and satisfy the engineers."... 17 Dec. 2003 (Wed.) COURTHOUSE work Could resume...Winterization of the Greene County courthouse is being done and preparations made to come up with "a fix" for an unstable south side foundation so the stalled renovations/addition project can move forward....." Weddel Brothers (construction) is doing their surveys of the building" and what the next steps will be in the project....Corey will travel to Indianapolis on Friday to meet with United, DLZ and Alt-Witizig (companies) to formulate a response on what ever (information) I get from Weddle Brothers Construction....The courthouse project has been stalled since March due to uncertainty on how to stabilize the shifting south side foundation.....The $10.5 million project was started in October 2002.... 31 Dec. 2003 (Wed) The Year 2003 A Look Back...No. 2: Courthouse project has problems. It has been 14 months since the $10.5 million courthouse renovation/addition project started...The courthouse was built in 1885, on sandy soil, but stood solid until the renovation project started and soil was removed from the south side....The excavating work, combined with vibrations form construction equipment and the above-average rainfall early this year. are what engineers say caused the sandy soil to shift. The delays cost about $15,000 per month....The commissioners opted to renovate the old courthouse rather than tear it down and build new, since the wanted to keep the historic look of the building. The building is technically owned by the Greene County Building Corporation which is comprised of Amos Mussleman of Newberry, Plato Spencer of rural Worthington and David West of Linton. Formed as a legal necessity for the project, the county technically "sold" the courthouse to the building corporation in October 2002 for $564,500....For the building corporation to actually authorize the courthouse renovation project, it must have a legal interest, meaning show ownership, in the property. The Greene County Building Corporation will lease the building back to the county....Bonds were sold to finance the project, and County Option Income Tax (COIT) money will be used to pay off the bonds. Soil testing on the south lawn was one of the first steps done...Winterization on the building began in December...the remodeling/addition project will resume soon. and the Saga Continues another year...... |
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