Parish seeks to expand project
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AMITE — Tangipahoa Parish officials are seeking state approval to expand the parish’s contract for courthouse renovations to include work on the Registrar of Voter’s Office without going to a separate bid.
The additional work is estimated at $145,000, Parish President Gordon Burgess said.
“If the state says, ‘No,’ we will bid it out, even though the state bid law does not require the parish to do so,” he said.
Burgess said the state requires jobs costing $150,000 and above to be advertised and bid.
State funds are paying for courthouse renovations that will expand the Clerk of Court’s Office, Assessor’s Office and relocate the Registrar of Voter’s Office into space vacated several years ago by the parish sheriff.
Work for the Clerk of Court’s Office expansion was advertised and awarded based on bids.
The intent was to complete one project and then do the other, said Jeff McKneely, assistant financial director for Tangipahoa Parish.
The parish, now under pressure to have the Registrar’s Office moved before the start of next year’s election cycle, is seeking to tag those renovation costs to the courthouse renovation contract.
McKneely said Ordak Construction is about to finish its work in the Clerk’s Office and can begin almost immediately on the remaining vacant space where the Registrar’s Office is to relocate.
As soon as the Registrar’s Office is moved, the Assessor’s Office will be expanded into those former offices, McKneely said.
That work can be done by parish employees, McKneely said. A wall removed here and door added there is all it will take, he said.
Registrar of Voters John Russell said he is concerned about getting the new office space completed and equipment moved before next year’s elections.
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