Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
The planned and much-needed repair and renovation of the historic building that constitutes city hall will not be accomplished in one fell swoop as envisioned. Instead it will be accomplished in drips and drabs.
That was the word from City Manager Seth Lawless to the Monticello City Council on Tuesday evening, May 2.
Lawless reported to the council that after twice advertising the project in the hope of finding a qualified contractor to perform the needed work, few bidders had come forth, and the prices of those that had were “completely outrageous.”
The reason he was raising
the issue, Lawless said, was because he was seeking the council’s permission to engage an electrician to redo the building’s electrical system, one of the more critical items that needed addressing.
The proposal from Mathers Electric Company to do the work, he said, was $8,820.
“Right now, we have wires hanging under the building and wires wrapped in clothing in the attic,” he said to give an indication of the poor condition of the electrical wiring.
Lawless said the idea now was to start with the more pressing repairs and bring the building back up to par incrementally over time.
“It’s a much scaled down version of what we started,” he said, adding that the undertaking had simply proven more difficult and costly than anticipated.
Long in the planning stage, the repair and renovation of the building has proceeded in small steps in recent years as the budget has allowed. However, with receipt of $1.1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) as part of the pandemic recovery funding, and with the need for the repairs growing more urgent, officials envisioned being able to accomplish the entire project at one time.
In a one-day retreat and planning session of city officials in 2021, the repair and renovation of the city hall building was identified as one of the projects to be accomplished with the AARP funding.
As go the proverbial best-laid plans of mice and men, however, unexpected equipment breakdown and other emergency expenditures soon diverted the AARP funding to other projects.
Still, city officials had hoped to accomplish as much of the repair and restoration of the building at one time as possible. As late as November of last year, the city was advertising for building contractors with electrical subcontractors to repair and renovate the building in accordance with drawings and specifications prepared by MLD Architects in Tallahassee.
It was the paltry response to the advertisement, in conjunction with the astronomical prices quoted for the work that finally convinced city officials to pursue a piecemeal approach to the project.