County Office Building Elevator Repairs Will Cost a Lot and Take a Lot of Time

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Published on January 14 2019 4:34 pm
Last Updated on January 15 2019 10:03 am
Written by Greg Sapp

Big bucks and much more time to repair than was hoped.

 

That was the news the Effingham County Board's Legislative and Personnel Committee of the Whole received Monday afternoon about the elevator that serves the Effingham County Office Building.

The most optimistic information shared by Chief Deputy Sheriff Paul Kuhns was that it would cost $92,000 to repair the hydraulic lift that operates the elevator and that it would take four months to complete. Kuhns cautioned that the hole that houses the hydraulic lift might need drilled out. He said that work could cost another $92,000. 

A new hydraulic lift could cost over $156,000 and the drilling would likely still be needed.

Board members are scrambling to provide for those who use the Office Building. For now, public meetings are taking place on the first floor of the building, rather than the third floor board meeting room. There is also work to establish a receptionist area on the first floor with the provision that various officeholders with locations in the building might need to come to the first floor if assistance is needed. A reminder that the stairway is still available for public use between 8am and 4pm weekdays.

In the meantime, committee members voted to move the issue to the full board meeting next week. Research will be done to see whether other vendors could do the work more quickly and at a lower cost.

Committee members Monday also discussed electric service cost cutting courtesy of Smartwatt, and a part-time website administrator.