Drier weather good for courthouse construction

Less rain in recent weeks was good news for work being done on the construction of Union County's new courthouse in Jonesboro.

An update on the work was presented at last Friday morning's regular meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners.

The meeting was at the community center in Jonesboro.

Courthouse project manager Mike Smith presented a report to the county board on work which had been done since Dec. 16. Highlights follow:

With less rain, the site was beginning to slowly dry out. Freezing conditions made work a little easier, but conditions were soggy when things melted.

The northwest corner and west half of the north basement wall and a portion of the north basement wall sections were complete. This left a 16-foot opening to allow trucks, equipment and materials to have access. Sally port walls were complete.

A total of more than 1,500 yards of concrete had been poured.

Column footings had been poured for the south area which will support a 25-foot by 125-foot slab on grade.

Steel columns, Level 1 floor beams, elevator openings and some metal deck pans had been set by Grover Mays Construction. Columns were being set plumb, then fully bolted and welded to meet specifications. Column bases were being prepped for grouting.

Looking forward:

Mays Construction would continue with the setting of metal decking. Level 1 will be the first floor to be poured. River City is applying floor forms to the perimeter of the Level 1 floor.

Foundations and walls to the south of the basement wall will continue to be excavated and poured. Foundation perimeter drains and waterproofing membranes and perimeter drains will be installed along the exterior of the south wall and then fill will be compacted into the area in preparation for foundation walls to support the first floor slab on a grade measuring 25 feet by 150 feet.

When all below-floor services are installed for the following trades – electrical (main and branch services), plumbing (water, septic and rainwater), fire protection, gas mains, communications/IT services – then the basement floor will be poured.

<strong>Other Business</strong>

In other business at Friday's meeting:

The commissioners approved a $5,000 funding request from the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail. The money will come from the county's tourism fund. The funds will help with efforts to promote the wine trail in a number of ways.

The commissioners also approved $1,000 from the tourism fund to help promote the annual Union County Business Expo. The popular event is scheduled March 31 at Anna-Jonesboro Community High School.

Tourism funding in the amounts of $500 each were approved for the annual Union County ColorFest biathlon and 7K run.

A meeting of the county's new financial committee was set for 8:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 13. The meeting will be at the Union County treasurer's office. The office is at the county courthouse in Jonesboro.

Union County Treasurer Darren Bailey reported that the general fund had a balance of $611,487.92 as of Friday.


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