Courthouse construction slowdown addressed
By Daniel Arens
There was evident frustration at the Nov. 2 Mercer County Commission meeting. Commissioners Wes Gunsch and Duane Scheurer expressed dissatisfaction with the progress on the courthouse expansion project, after the last couple of weeks saw a slowdown on the part of one of the contractors.
“It’s kind of like a jigsaw puzzle,” Gunsch said. “If someone’s not doing that work, others can’t do theirs.”
Scheurer noted that there were only a few workers present when he did a tour on Oct. 28, and that the interior framing should have been completed. At the time of the tour, only the bathroom portion of the new facility had frames up.
Gunsch noted that there has been much improvement over the Oct. 29 and 30 weekend, when a new crew was brought up to work. Work over that weekend and the following days allowed the project to gain some ground, but Scheurer was still concerned about the delay.
Gunsch also said that the commission and project manager Jim Theurer continue to try to find little cost savings where they can.
Commissioner Gary Murray addressed the recent fatality at the intersection of Highway 200 and Highway 49 north of Beulah.
“It’s a real volatile, dangerous situation up there,” he said. He added that you have to be prepared to stop 10 minutes if you are trying to go east or west from 3 to 6 p.m., when traffic from the power plants is at its peak.
