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ST. CLAIRSVILLE - Consolidation of Belmont County Northern, Eastern and Western division courts and the prosecutor's office in a central St. Clairsville-area location is likely to happen this year.
The lower of two buildings off of U.S. 40 east of St. Clairsville that were formerly owned by The Health Plan already has been renovated and houses the title office and board of elections. Planning the renovation of the upper building to house the courts has been a more lengthy process due to security measures and the offices and officials involved.
Belmont County Commissioners Josh Meyer, J.P. Dutton and Jerry Echemann accepted the low bid for the work Wednesday from Colaianni Construction of Dillonvale for $6,284,500, based on a recommendation from McKinley Architecture and Engineering, the project architect.
Four bids were received. Wolf Creek Contracting of Waterford, Ohio, bid $7,291,069; Vendrick Contracting of Brookfield, Ohio, bid $6,890,500; Waller Corp. of Washington, Pennsylvania, bid $6,751,400.
"This is a big project," Dutton said,"especially combined with the other building that's already complete. This is the biggest building project, I think, in Belmont County's history."
"It's basically Phase 2," Dutton said. "We wanted to make sure we got it right the first time through in terms of how we handled renovations."
He said work on the upper building should begin soon and be completed in about nine months.
"This building and the property around it, we don't anticipate this really being an issue for future boards for quite some time," he said. "These buildings are set in place now … for a very long life. We wanted to make sure this work was completed."
He said the current county court site in downtown St. Clairsville is cramped and inadequate.
"This will allow some departments to move out of space that really was supposed to be temporary 20, 25, 30 years ago. We speak specifically to the prosecutor's office and Western Division Court on Main Street in St. Clairsville. They were never intended to be in that space as long as they have."
The other two courts are located in Bellaire.
"Having both Eastern and Northern Court combine with Western Court, we think, is great for moving forward in the future, trying to take a long-term look at this project. They're in a great space in Bellaire, but we think there's a lot of advantages for having those three courts combined in one location," Dutton said.
The commissioners will now determine the future of the Bellaire and Main Street, St. Clairsville, properties.