KINGMAN – Mohave County has been working out initial operations kinks since staff moved into the new building addition after vacating the historic courthouse in downtown Kingman in early March. They’ve been addressing climate control, plumbing and other issues since occupying the new four-story structure.
“When you open a new building, there’s always rats that have to be killed. That’s what they call it,” said County Facilities Manager John Mieding. “We’re past most of those issues. The HVAC controls have been dialed in. There’s a couple more tweaks we have to make, but they are minor.”
Utility issues that surfaced early have also been addressed.
“We’ve made some adjustments in water pressure and other things to help toilets flush a little better. We’ve had a couple of lighting control problems and those have been replaced. Most of our issues that remain are outside matters,” Mieding said.
Some fans are being added to cool electronic systems in the Information Technology network. Mieding added that signage adjustments are also in the works.
The county budgeted $5.5 million nearly four years ago to remodel the vacated courthouse facility to house Justice Court personnel working in modular buildings about one mile away. Soaring construction costs have county officials engaged in plan review and value engineering to sharpen the project pencil.
Some interior demolition will be occurring this summer.
“We’re about to pull the trigger on the hazardous materials remediation portion of the project. Procurement is about ready to release their requests for proposals for the remediation work,” Mieding said. “All of that work is funded by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s Brownsfields Program.”
The Board of Supervisors will decide what becomes of the Justice Court property. Options include liquidation and repurposing for other county use.
Dave Hawkins
