Top price for new county corrections: $7.3M

By ROGER AMSDEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — The Belknap County Jail Planning Committee Wednesday received assurances from Andre Kloetz of Bauen Construction of Meredith, construction manager for the 18,000-square-foot, 64-bed community corrections facility that the county will soon break ground on, will have a guaranteed not-to-exceed maximum price of $7.3 million.

Kloetz said that he is "absolutely confident" about the $7.3 million figure and is looking to have everything in place so that ground can be broken on May 30 for site work for the project. But he said the document guaranteeing that price won't be prepared until mid-June as construction documents needed to meet requirements set by attorneys for the county and the construction firm are still in the process of being finalized.

Belknap County Commission Chairman David DeVoy (R-Sanbornton) told the committee that commissioners on Wednesday morning approved a $4 million bond anticipation note with Century Bank at a 0.83 percent interest rate that will provide the funds needed for this year's work on the project.

Plans call for the project, which includes renovations to the existing county jail, to be completed in September 2017.

Project manager Anthony Mento of Sheer, McCrystal, Palson Architecture Inc. of Concord observed that the guaranteed number is for construction only and does not include furniture and fixtures.

The Belknap County Delegation last November unanimously approved an $8 million bond for building the community corrections center and renovation of parts of the current county jail, which will have 60 beds.

DeVoy said they hope to be able to repurpose some of the bond funds above the $7.3 million guaranteed number in order to repair the roof the Belknap County Nursing Home and adjacent Belknap County complex, which has been estimated to cost $550,000 for a metal roof and $750,000 for a shingled roof.

Using the bond funds will require that the Belknap County Delegation repurpose the bond issue to include the roof project. DeVoy said the commission won't know for certain how much of that money will be available until later this year, and tried to convince the delegation to use $605,000 from the county's fund balance for the roof project rather than using it to reduce taxes.

The delegation declined to go along with that proposal when it finalized the county budget in March, opting instead to use some of the fund balance to reduce taxes.