March 19, 2024

Plans continue for county care facility demolition

Demolition of the Jasper County Care Facility continues to move forward with Shive-Hattery Civil Engineer Christopher Bauer speaking about the formation of a bid packet at the Jasper County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.

Bauer went over the different aspects to consider when making the packet, including many items that need to be done before any building is knocked down. It also includes the youth shelter located next door to the county care facility, which is optional for the board.

“It seems like it should be easy enough to just go knock it down but looking at all of the utilities and the potential for hazardous materials, the amount of disturbed area, a lot of approvals that if the city and county don’t do it property it can quickly cause problems,” Bauer said. “The proposal we put together includes topographic survey and base mapping, existing utilities, man holes, storm sewers, drainage, once we tear all of those down have a plan of how that looks when we are done so we don’t just have a big hole.”

Shive-Hattery will have an asbestos abatement specialist look at the work that has already been done in the building to make sure it meets standards. The updated review must be done to get a state permit for demolition. The youth shelter will also be reviewed, but Bauer said hopefully the building is just new enough to not have an asbestos presence.

“It’s nothing out of the ordinary but it is a fairly large building from demolition stand point,” Bauer said.

The demolition design includes utility disconnection, removal of all basements, a grading plan and seeding and restoration of the property among a list of additional work to bring the buildings down. The board will receive a cost opinion to make sure the price is staying in the scope of what it had planned for the project.

“You’re required to get public bids for whatever you do. When we are going to do a cost opinion, to get a ball park on where it is going to be. If that cost becomes an issue then we can remove scope, including removing the youth center,” Bauer said.

One element that is on the board’s side is time. There is no rush to complete the project, which helps to bring prices down, especially if work can be done during the winter months.

“From a demolition standpoint, winter really is an ideal time because of all of the earth work type companies interested in the project to help drive prices down,” Bauer said.

He said that Shive-Hattery will get started as soon as it gets formal approval from the board. The company start working with city departments for utilities, get out to the property with surveyors and plan to get a bid this fall to get ideal an ideal demolition schedule during the winter.

“I want to get this thing started. I’m ready,” Supervisor Joe Brock said.

Brock found Shive-Hattery after an extensive search and was impressed with the work they did at the former Maytag plant and Newton Seed Store and Waterworks building.

An additional topic discussed with the demolition was recycling of the material. Bauer said they could include language showing a preference for recycling, but that requiring can often increase the costs.

“In general the demolition industry is very pro-recycling, the less they have to hall off, whether concrete they can grind up, or steel for sure, because steel is money for them. You’ll see a lot of recycling no matter what we do,” Bauer said.

The board plans to approve moving forward with Shive-Hattery at the next Supervisor’s meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com