A broken elevator is making it difficult for people to access all floors of the Scioto County Courthouse, but Scioto County Commissioners are working to get that fixed.
They unanimously approved a measure that allows them to contract for repairs without going through a competitive bidding process.
Scioto County Commissioner Bryan Davis explained, “On this particular item, we have something that we have not done for many years. We are in an emergency situation.”
The courthouse has been without an elevator for two weeks and is in danger of an Americans With Disabilities Act violation if it is not fixed soon.
“We really need to get this thing up and running,” Davis said. “We do have a bid. There was a second one that did not qualify due to terms.”
Davis said Commissioners had gone over the resolution with the Scioto County Prosecutor’s Office and chosen the Otis Elevator company to do the repairs. “They are our contractor of record.”
Even with the emergency measure, the company estimates it will take three weeks to complete the elevator repairs.
Commissioner Scottie Powell said commissioners had attempted to secure more bids, “Heck, there were some people who couldn’t get here for eight weeks. We can’t let the public, the courts, the clerks, and everybody this building serves take a hit.”
Powell said part of the difficulty is the age of the elevators in the building. “It’s going to take a lot of work, a lot of parts being built. I think this qualifies easily as an emergency.”
Commissioner Cathy Coleman apologized to citizens who’ve been unable to access the second and third floors of the courthouse in the past two weeks and thanked courthouse employees for putting up with the inconvenience.
Davis said the county needed to look at adding another elevator to the building to prevent this problem in the future.