ABOVE: Scaffolding surrounds the Martin County Courthouse in Fairmont in July 2022. Work on the courthouse’s roof had been ongoing since 2019 but recently finished last month. Sentinel file photo.

FAIRMONT– On Tuesday the Martin County Board of Commissioners received a comprehensive review of the courthouse roof project from Bob Mickelson of ISG. Work on the courthouse roof began back in 2019 and was just recently completed.

For phase one, repointing the dome base stone was done and the contractor on that was Restoration Services out of Faribault. Work on that began in the summer of 2019 and the contract amount was for $232,000 with no change orders.

The second phase involved asbestos abatement and media blasting the steel structure. The Contractor was Mavo Systems out of White Bear Lake. Work started in March 2020 for $93,000 with no direct change orders.

Mickelson was able to show the board before and after photos from the media blasting, which removed paint and rust. This process was done in preparation of the next portion of the project.

Also included in phase two and likely the most visually significant, was the copper dome replacement and clock restoration. Renaissance Roofing and Mechanical Watch Supply were the contractors involved in that aspect of the project. Work on that portion began in April 2020 and wrapped up in September of 2021.

The contract amount for that was $2.4 million and included three change orders.

“The first two were related to scaffolding to accommodate the tuck-pointing… the third change order was related to steel that was around the base of the stone and the lantern was deteriorated badly and needed to be replaced,” Mickelson said.

He said the total change order resulted in an additional $35,000, making the total for the portion come out to just over $2.5 million.

Also included in the dome and clock work were the installation of four copper eagles, which sit around the courthouse dome. Another large ascetic was the clock restoration work.

“That clock really is a full museum quality restoration is what’s up there. It’s almost a shame that it’s hidden up there,” Mickelson said.

However, he pointed out that the clock had been on display for a time on the lower level of the courthouse for the public to view before it was moved to the dome.

During his presentation to the board Mickelson provided many photos of the copper work that was done, including drone photos which show the dome from above.

The third phase of the project was the courthouse roof replacement, which began in August 2021 and finished up for the most part two years later in August 2023, with a few final steps just wrapping up last month. The contract amount was $1.4 million, but snow guards were also added for $62,500 and heat tape clips were installed for $22,000.

“We had five change orders on this one. The first one was just the completion date and the second and third were were kind of where the heels fell off a little bit,” Mickelson said.

He further explained that as workers got deeper into the roof it was discovered how much more work than originally expected needed to be done.

“We were surprised by the condition of the concrete roof deck and the condition of the parapets there,” Mickelson said.

The fourth change order was when roofing was removed so that the original gutters could be exposed and finally the fifth change order was a contract adjustment, that was actually a credit.

All in all the change orders resulted in an additional $1 million and the revised contract for the roof work came in at just under $2.5 million.

In summarizing all of the work, Mickelson said the total construction contracts totaled $4.27 million and change orders totaled $1.1 million so the total contraction amount came in at $5.3 million.

“Your next stop is maybe looking at the artwork on the side of the dome, we had talked about that really early on. There are people out there who look at the restoration of that,” Mickelson said.

Commissioner Kathy Smith said the county has already started to look at that.

In other news, the board:

— Approved an employment contract with William Fahey, special projects associate to the board.

— Appointed Commissioner Jaime Bleess to Minnesota Rural Counties.