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Washington County officials tour the first floor courthouse and jury room remodel in the County Judicial Center in downtown Bartlesville.

Commissioner Mike Dunlap led the tour of the facility on Monday morning. Dunlap says he is excited to see how far this project has come since it began in October 2021.

Commissioner Dunlap believes the courthouse is a structure that will be utilized in Washington County for a long time so they need to be responsible for updating and maintaining the facility, something he has done most of his life. He says he has other ideas to modernize the space and turn the building into something they can all be proud of.

The thought is to expand the project into the hallway. Commissioner Dunlap says he is looking into quotes to install matching wainscoting from the courtroom along the walls of the hallway on top of improving lighting and lowering the ceiling. He says they will have to see if that would be affordable. 

In the meantime, Commissioner Dunlap says they are waiting for furnishings for the courtroom and the jury room. Dunlap says jury chairs need to be installed in the courtroom, which is set to take place sometime this week. He says he believes the Supreme Court will be responsible for tables and chairs.

Commissioner Dunlap says the workmanship from RECO Construction is high quality. He says the oak work and everything they have done is beautiful. He also praised local architect Dan Keleher and his team for their contribution to the project.

This project was rolled out after the Washington County Election Board moved out of the courthouse and relocated to the fourth floor of Bartlesville City Hall across the street. The Election Board began to move in February and later held an open house in May.

The move was also made possible because of an agreement between the City of Bartlesville and Washington County. That agreement was made in January.

Prior to Memorial Day weekend, the Washington County Commissioners awarded a $13,750 bid to Stout Construction to demolish the old Election Board offices in the courthouse. That work took place over the holiday weekend in May 2021. Commissioner Dunlap said it would give bidders an opportunity to see what they were working with; it would give potential bidders the chance to see the space that they would be working in before placing a bid. 

The Washington County Commissioners opened bids for the courtroom renovations on Monday, Aug. 30. RECO Construction submitted a bid in the amount of $328,372 with an alternate reduction of $23,635 for courtroom chairs. The other bid was from Timberlake Construction in the amount of $384,000 with an alternate reduction of $24,000.

The bids were held for a couple weeks before the Commissioners voted to award the bid to RECO Construction on Monday, Sept. 13.

Courtroom renovations began on Monday, Oct. 4.