By JIM HARDIN
CNHI
Rockwall County —
With construction in its earliest stages at the Rockwall County Courthouse building site, county commissioners and a construction company representative concentrated this week on procedures for keeping commissioners in the information and decision-making loop.
Nick Link of Manhattan Construction Co. told commissioners Tuesday that Brinkley Sargent Architects submitted bid package information recently which represents “95 percent of the interiors.”
Link, project manager for the job, added that the architect had provided a mockup drawing that will be used for procuring materials for the project.
“It really gives you a good visual of what this exterior is developing into,” Link said of the mockup drawing.
Commissioner Dennis Bailey, who serves as the liaison between commissioners and the construction company and architect, said he would meet with the architect and construction company officials to talk about scheduling with the court’s exterior, interior and landscaping committees.
Bailey said he wants to “expedite that as hard as we can so we can get answers because, again, you’ve got their ideas and what they want to put out there, but no selections have been made yet. So I’m driving towards getting those decisions made. ...”
Commissioner David Magness then questioned whether the court’s committee on the interior had signed off on the interior package mentioned by Link. Regarding the mockup, Magness said, “I think we’ve been pretty much left out of the loop on that.”
Link responded quickly.
“I want to be clear to the commissioners that Manhattan will not proceed with actually procuring or making final selections without Commissioner Bailey’s approval and, of course, go through commissioners court.”
Link reported that the “moisture conditioning” process at the site had been completed. He added that the drilling of more than 200 piers for the building’s foundation should be completed today (Friday).
The construction site is near the corner of Yellow Jacket Lane and Townsend Drive, adjacent to the Rockwall County Library.
Among other action, commissioners voted to spend up to $30,000 to provide additional office space for the district attorney’s office. According to discussion and Bailey’s motion, the additional office space will be needed when the new 439th District Court opens Nov. 1.
A modular building will be the temporary solution to ease overcrowding in the Rockwall County Government Center. The temporary building will be needed until the new courthouse opens next year.
The expense will come from the county’s current budget.
