A long-awaited heating and cooling project at the Jerauld County Courthouse has hit a road bump in the form of equipment delivery postponements due to supply chain issues. Although installation of the new system is delayed, the project is still on the books and necessary due to the county’s antiquated boiler system.
“The boiler can’t be certified. Boiler systems need to be certified for safety,” said Board Chairman of the Jerauld County Commission, Charlie Bergeleen. “When they will no longer certify a boiler, you must update it and bring up to code.”
Bergeleen explained that for many years, discussion about a courthouse heating and cooling update has been on the table.
“I worked there in the 1970s and they were talking about it then,” he said. “Every time you wait and get an estimate, it keeps going up.”
On October 29, 2021, commissioners opened the lone bid for the project from Krohmer Plumbing. It was tabled at that meeting for further discussion. During the November 9, 2021 county commission meeting, minutes from the meeting state that the base bid was $1,148,488 and reductions were $214,496. The project was approved at a cost of $933,992.00, with a list of the approved deduction items available for review in the Jerauld County Auditor’s office.
As for the cost, Jerauld County Auditor Shannon Fagerhaug said the county has been assigning any surplus funds, by law, into a building improvement fund.
“Also, in 2016, the commission signed a capital outlay resolution as $300,000 set aside for the purpose of building maintenance and improvements, equipment, supplies and services,” Fagerhaug explained. “This resolution was good for seven years and is needing to be acted upon by August 12, 2023. The total of these two funds will cover the cost of the project.”
Bergeleen said that the contractor hopes the equipment for the HVAC system will arrive by fall 2022.
“We are looking at hopefully having the equipment and parts by Thanksgiving or early December,” Bergeleen said. “That means we could be in another heating season.”
Bergeleen explained that rewiring and running conduit is scheduled to begin soon but demolition and removal of the old system will not occur until the new system arrives in Jerauld County.