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A bid has been approved for courtroom renovations at the Washington County Courthouse in downtown Bartlesville.

The Washington County Commissioners awarded the bid to RECO Construction out of Tulsa on Monday morning. The approved bid came in the amount of $328,372 with a deduct alternate in the amount of $23,625 for jury seating. Jury chairs are in the base bid. If Washington County accepts the alternate, they will take the chairs out and replace them with less expensive seating. 

This was one of two bids the Commissioners opened two weeks ago and held for review. The other bid was from Timberlake Construction in the amount of $384,000 with a deduct alternate of $24,000.

A contract between the Washington County Commissioners and RECO Construction will now be prepared. The bid was approved on a 2-0 vote. Commissioner Mike Dunlap - who has been instrumental in getting the project going - was not present at Monday's meeting.

Washington County and the City of Bartlesville came to an agreement in January 2021 that would allow the County Election Board to be housed on the fourth floor of Bartlesville City Hall. The Election Board began its moving process from there and officially opened across the street from its old home in the courthouse in May 2021.

From there, the Washington County Commissioners awarded a bid to Stout Construction to demolish the old County Election Board offices in the courthouse. The demolition took place over Memorial Day weekend.

Bids for the courtroom renovations were opened on Monday, Aug. 30, before being held for review. The bid was officially approved on Monday morning as mentioned. Commissioner Dunlap has said in the past that this project would be bid as a nighttime project as to not interfere with the operations of the Washington County Courthouse during the day.