Bartlesville Radio: The area’s best source for news, weather and sports!

A demolition contract with Stout Construction to remove the old Washington County Election Board offices in the courthouse was approved by the Washington County Commissioners during a special meeting on Thursday afternoon.

The Commissioners had awarded a $13,750 bid to Stout on Monday, but it was pending approval of the demolition contract on Thursday. Commissioner Mike Dunlap said Stout will demolish the former offices of the Election Board in the courthouse in downtown Bartlesville. Dunlap said Stout would begin its demolition efforts on Friday, May 28th. He said the hope is that the work will be finished by the evening of Monday., May 31st.

Commissioner Dunlap said this will allow Stout to do the demo work leading up to the reconstruction that will take place at the courthouse in the future. He said they'll have to have a full set of drawings before they eventually go out for bids for the reconstruction project.

Commissioner Mitch Antle said they did due diligence by contacting other potential bidders that opted out of doing the work.

Commissioner Dunlap said Stout Construction facilitated the work on the new parking lot between the courthouse and the Washington County Administration Building in 2019. Dunlap said they are a qualified contractor. He said this will save Washington County money in the long run when they go out for bid because they'll be able to see what they're working with.

The Washington County Commissioners also declared a power file system from the old Washington County Election Board location as surplus.

The new Washington County Election Board is located on the fourth floor of Bartlesville City Hall at 401 S. Johnstone Avenue.