Upgrading courthouse windows will add to cost

When Swift County’s Board of Commissioners approved the $3.573 million bid of Sussner Construction of Marshall for extensive renovations to the courthouse, it was assumed that work on the windows was included.
But at a recent construction meeting on the work that is being done, County Board Chairman Eric Rudningen, District 5-Kerkhoven, learned that the windows weren’t included.
“We can’t spend $3 million on the courthouse and not have the windows…” done, Rudningen said at the county board’s Aug. 15 meeting at the Benson City Hall. Commissioners will be meeting at the city hall at least through the end of the year as work progresses on the courthouse.
As the county was looking at the renovation of the historic courthouse, it applied for a $170,000 grant for window replacement from the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS.) However, it was denied earlier this year.
If approved, the grant would have gone toward installing energy efficient windows that match the historic window look of the 1898 courthouse and would have been used to remove the awnings installed over the windows.
Just to repair the current windows in the courthouse would cost about $180,000, Rudningen said while new windows would cost between $350,000 and $400,000. The state grant would have paid half the cost of the new windows. “That caught me a little off-guard, but it is not too late to make it right,” Rudningen said of the windows not being included in the scheduled work....
 
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