photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The Douglas County Treasurer’s Satellite Office is expected to move to this site at 2601 W. Sixth St. in west Lawrence once renovations are complete.

Douglas County commissioners are set to consider providing additional funding for the treasurer’s office’s new satellite site as unforeseen utility work is projected to exceed the original budget.

On Wednesday, the County Commission will consider approving an additional $75,000 in funding for the satellite site project, which would increase the total project budget to $1,678,275.

As the Journal-World reported, the treasurer’s satellite office in south Lawrence is set to move to a larger location in west Lawrence at 2601 W. Sixth St. later this year. That new office is double the size of the 2,500-square-foot space the satellite office has been located in for the past eight years.

According to a memo in the agenda, once construction began, it was found that the existing utilities did not meet current standards and were inadequate for the project, requiring additional utility work and funding beyond the original design and budget. The memo said the extra work included relocating the existing electrical service line supporting the building, installing a dedicated fire suppression water line, relocating a natural gas line and extending a fiber line to the building to support connection back to county infrastructure.

Additionally, once the demolition work began, it was discovered that some exterior studs and sheathing of the building had deteriorated due to moisture infiltration. These components needed to be repaired and remediated before the interior remodeling work, as outlined in the project documents, could proceed.

The construction project has an anticipated completion date in mid-October, according to the memo.

The memo said staff believed the project was tracking close to $50,000 in excess of the current approved project budget. Staff is requesting an additional $75,000 in funding to ensure that the project can be completed to the originally expected quality and scope.

The funding for purchasing and remodeling the property has been sourced from two places — $650,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded to the treasurer’s office, and the county’s capital improvement contingency fund. It is expected that any extra funds needed to support the project budget would also come from the capital improvement contingency fund.

In other business, county commissioners will:

• Consider executing an agreement in the amount of $791,367 for above-grade stone masonry restoration work to be performed on the exterior of the historic Douglas County Courthouse.

The memo in the agenda said the project scope was put out to competitive bidding through the county’s bid and tenders online procurement system, with bids collected on Aug. 8. Five bids were received, ranging from $791,367 to $1,269,854. All submitted bids were lower than the architect’s estimate of $3,021,185.

The Journal-World asked county spokesperson Karrey Britt in an email about why the bids were lower than the estimate, but she did not provide an explanation.

This phase of the restoration project will clean all elevations of the courthouse and restore and repoint portions of the west elevation, as well as the entire south, east and north elevations. These facades were not addressed in the previous 2010 restoration work, according to the memo in the agenda.

• Consider the approval of a special event permit for an outdoor Halloween-themed festival – Garrett’s Haunted Farm – to be held from Thursday, Sept. 26, through Thursday, Nov. 3, on property located at 1387 East 1650 Road. The event would include children’s activities during the day and a “zombie paintball hunt” in the evening.

The County Commission’s business meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the Douglas County Public Works training room at 3755 E. 25th St. The meeting will also be available via Zoom.