City service building to be upgraded for ADA compliance

Aug 29, 2023

The city-owned building at 304 Putnam St. that houses the Marietta/Belpre Health Department and other city services will be getting an overhaul to bring it into compliance with Americans With Disabilities Act requirements.

A Marietta City Council Finance Committee meeting Monday night gave the go-ahead for legislation authorizing the city to enter into a contract for the work with Wolf Creek Contracting Co. LLC, lowest qualifying bid of three received. The other bids were from 3D Construction LLC and Grae-Con Construction Inc.

The base bid includes parking lot work and redoing the front door and front ramp for a total bid of $649,775. The parking lot portion means more handicap-accessible parking closer to the front door, according to City Engineer Bob Heady. Right now, visitors using wheelchairs must go through the basement to use the elevator. That will be remedied so there will be wheelchair access through the front door, he said.

In addition to the base bid, the project has seven alternates, or additional tasks, listed and bid separately to be more cost-efficient. Heady said he recommended doing all the alternates except one. With those added, the bid amount would be $904,995. The omitted alternate involved a deduction for plantings between the front entrance and the street.

Among the alternates included are an overall “refresh” of the elevator interior and the addition of Braille buttons. Railings on both sets of stairs will be replaced because the current ones are not high enough for current ADA code. All door hardware will be redone. Water fountains, light switches, emergency exit signs and fire alarm handles all will be adjusted to heights specified by the ADA. Life safety upgrades in the basement will include additional fire alarms and additional exit lighting or modifications, as required by code.

One of the major height adjustments will be to lower the third-floor counter window where birth and death certificates are obtained.

Heady told council members at Monday’s meeting that the health department will have an accreditation review in mid-November, and Health Department Director Barbara Bradley said the changes to make the building ADA-compliant will carry a heavy weight in the process.

Outside such things as HVAC ugradees, the building has had no significant updates since 1970, Heady said. He estimated the base bid projects and six alternates would take seven to nine months for full completion.

Finance Committee Chairman Mike Scales emphasized that he wanted a 10% built-in contingency added to the project amount, in order to prevent any future problems with change orders or emergencies needing to be covered by money not coming from American Rescue Plan Act funds.

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