NORWICH – Interior and exterior renovations, repairs, maintenance and safety measures have kept the Chenango County Buildings and Grounds Department extremely busy, particularly over the past two years.
Back in 2009, when department Director Julie Gates came on board, the downtown Norwich landscape around the venerable Chenagno County Courthouse began transforming, starting with the renovation of the former Sheriff’s Office and Jail on West Park Place into executive offices for the department of social services. The park, itself, received care and attention in conjunction with the volunteer Friends of the Parks group, and all but one side of the Greek Revival Chenango County Courthouse (erected in 1837) now sports a fresh coat of paint, including the Ionic columns.
Gates and her four person building maintenance staff are currently moving 1960s-era heavy metal walls into freed-up space in the former clerk of the board’s offices on the third floor of the County Office Building. The area will accommodate the county’s 12-person Probation Department. Probation and the district attorney’s office gained much needed space when the clerk, board chairman and attorney’s suite, and supervisor’s conference room took former DSS offices on the top floor of the 1991 wing.
Transporting the walls and doors from storage at Preston Manor, cutting them to fit, then installing, insulating and sound proofing them has been time-consuming, Gates said.
“I give my staff kudos because they’ve really worked hard,” she said, adding that doing the work in-house has meant for “an extreme cost-savings” for taxpayers.
In addition to reconfiguring probation offices, buildings and grounds staff built a secure waiting room with plexiglass and an opening to speak through and make payments. Similar safety measures have been made in the district attorney’s expanded offices. Gates said the building as a whole lacks sufficient security, except for the courts area where officers are on duty. She is investigating key card and other secure access systems buildings. An emergency evacuation plan is currently in the works.
Next on the to-do list for the courthouse is replacing all of the inoperable valves that control the HVAC system and, then, refurbishing the roof. Gates has submitted quotes ranging from $130,000 to $185,000 for the roof work, including gold leaf paint for the elaborate enclosed cupola. Clerk of the Board RC Woodford said that project is currently “a work in progress.”
The roof on the County Office Building needs attention first. Members of the Agriculture, Buildings and Grounds Committee on Tuesday accepted a proposal for $168,000 to repair and reseal all three sections. A whole new roof, at an estimated cost of $1 million, has been deemed prohibitive, according to the committee. Repairs to the 1960s wing roof, made back in 1997, have cracked, peeled and leaked. The roofing project under consideration at this time carries a 15-year warranty.