Buena Vista County approves $200,000 courthouse maintenance project

Buena Vista County supervisors approved a courthouse maintenance package Tuesday that will alter both the outside of the building and its second floor, a roughly $200,000 project aimed at preserving the landmark while changing how jurors, defendants and staff move through it.

The biggest piece is a $125,000 contract to McGill Restoration of Omaha for tuckpointing the courthouse exterior at 215 E 5th St. The masonry work will begin in September, when cooler weather makes the job more practical, and Building and Grounds Superintendent Joe Keller started working on the project in September 2025 and expects the outside work to proceed once the contractor can mobilize.

The mortar joints are 55 years old and need to be redone across the building. McGill first estimated the work at $113,500, then revised it to $146,000 after the scope was clarified, before submitting the final $125,000 bid. No other bids were ultimately filed after the county’s efforts to line up additional contractors fell apart. The county once used a different contractor for a similar job and the seal failed within a year or two, leading to a lawsuit. Officials turned to a company that specializes in restoration work.

The exterior contract will be paid through the county’s capital loan program. The courthouse restoration had been budgeted at about $110,000, and remaining money from the county’s 2026 capital projects loan will cover the difference.

Inside the courthouse, the second-floor work is focused on security and inmate movement, not appearance. The county approved a $74,018 elevator-security project that will add a secure second-floor elevator entrance designed for inmate transport, along with a camera inside the elevator and new IT components. The board authorized Board Chair Paul Merten to sign the Otis service and repair order, and the county must use Otis because of the specialized equipment involved.

The current setup already includes a private entrance but lacks a second-floor exit, forcing temporary partitions to do the job in the meantime. The new layout is intended to keep inmates out of public hallways, away from jurors and courthouse traffic, and into a controlled holding space. The county plans to pay $40,000 upfront from money that had been reserved for a bathroom remodel that was later canceled.

The county’s Buildings and Grounds department also maintains the DHS Annex, Public Health Annex, Cayuga Street Annex and Law Enforcement Center. Supervisors meet there every Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. in the courthouse board room.