The proceedings in Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley’s courtroom might get heated, but at least the temperature will cool down as the courtroom is scheduled to receive a new air conditioning unit next week.
Circuit Court has been assembling in the courtroom at the county Administrative Building on Locust Street for weeks. According to County Executive John Pelham, parking spaces at the Administrative Building have been hard to find on days when Circuit Court is in session.
Building custodian Billy Ralph affirmed there have been many more people at the Administrative Building than normal. “I was going through two rolls of toilet paper a day up here. Now, we’re going through eight rolls a day. There are a lot of people coming in and out of here now that court is going on,” said Ralph.
Members of the Warren County Financial Management committee met Monday night and opened bids to install a 5-ton, water-cooled heat pump. The bids included removing two old units as well as a large piece of ductwork from the top of the building.
Three companies submitted bids for the job. Those submitting bids were Bob’s Central Air of McMinnville, Carwile Mechanical of Cookeville, and Lee Company of Franklin. Bob’s Central Air had the lowest bid at $5,900 with a start date of Aug. 20. Carwile Mechanical was very close with a bid of $5,944 and a start date of seven to 10 days from date of order. Lee Company submitted a bid of $6,850 with a start date of Aug. 23.
Bob’s Central Air was awarded the bid with a stipulation in the motion stating if the company could not meet the timeline declared in the bid, the award would go to the second highest bidder. Bob’s had a finish date in its bid of Aug. 24.
Commissioner Carl Bouldin stated the air conditioning unit had given them trouble about six weeks before it stopped working. According to Pelham, the unit was working at about 60 percent capacity when it died.
Members of the Financial Management Committee present at the meeting were Pelham, Terry Bell, Bouldin, Wayne Copeland, Levie Glenn and Linda Hillis. Herschel Wells and Bobby Cox were absent.