The annex to the Historic Mohave County courthouse will be renovated to provide space to relocate Justice Court operations in downtown Kingman. Photo by Dave Hawkins
KINGMAN – A Mesa firm is being awarded a multi-million dollar contract to remodel and improve space inside the annex to the Historic Mohave County courthouse in downtown Kingman.
Supervisors Buster Johnson and Ron Gould dissented in Monday’s 5-2 vote awarding the project to Concord General Contracting. The lump sum bid award just above $6 million grows to a little more than $7 million when a $60,000 Public Works Administration fee and $911,000 for construction contingency costs are added.
Another $1 million plus dollars will be spent on furnishings and technology, including audio and visual support for legal function. Kingman Justice Court operations currently housed in outdated modular structures will relocate to the annex once the new space is completed.
“Very pleased and very excited,” Justice of the Peace Dave Huerta said following Monday’s BOS vote. “It’s been something that’s been needed for quite some time.”
Huerta said some two-dozen people who work in the Justice Court deserve a better workplace. He said consolidation will bring public benefit as well, given proximity to the nearby Law and Justice Center housing Superior Court operations.
“It’s going to be a whole lot easier for folks to have a complex where both the superior court and justice courts are kind of combined very much closer together,” Huerta said. “There are several times when people intend to go to justice court and go to the superior court or vice-versa. So, for assistance with the public, I think the access is going to make it a whole lot better.”
The project was first put out to bid in a package that included the historic Courthouse remodel. It was shelved when the bids came back more than $2 million higher than expected two years ago.
No one from the private sector submitted when the project was put out to bid a second time. County Manager Sam Elters and Procurement Director Tara Acton said the project scope was reduced to include the annex but not the Courthouse this third time.
Public Works staff gutted the courtrooms as well as office space to reduce some of the scope of the work to net more favorable bids. Ceiling, HVAC and wall exposure efforts were also conducted so that contractors could sharpen their bids without inflating them to accommodate for unexpected discoveries that may have occurred had they also been saddled with the demolition activity.
Dave Hawkins
