Courthouse design team official fired

The architectural firm and engineering company responsible for the design of the current Greene County Courthouse renovation/addition project have been fired.

The Greene County Building Corporation on Wednesday morning officially terminated its contracts with United Consulting Engineers and DLZ Indiana LLC. Notice of the terminations that outlined the firings would become final in 10 days after they were sent out later in the day.

The Greene County Commissioners have scheduled a special meeting for 1 p.m. on Friday to formally pass a resolution to recommend the naming of a new architect and engineering company to the project. The meeting will be held in the commissioner's room, located in the courthouse basement.

Five firms have been contacted about "coming on board" with the project ---- with three unnamed firms said to have "expressed an interest" in entering a contract to finish the project, according to Hartman.

The Building Corporation met Wednesday by teleconference with only board member David West present in the law offices of Marilyn Hartman. The other two board members ---- Amos Musselman, of Newberry, and Plato Spencer, of Worthington, were out of town and unable to attend the meeting. But they were able to participate in the meeting by a three-way telephone hookup.

District 2 commissioner Larry Hasler also attended the session.

The action to cut the business ties with the two Indianapolis-based companies came after the Greene County Commissioners passed a resolution Dec. 21 that alleged that the design team has failed to comply with their contractual obligations. In passing the resolution, the commissioners recommended that both United and DLZ be terminated from the $10.5 million building project.

According to the resolution, "The board of commissioners has determined that it is in the best interest of the citizens of Greene County to pursue by litigation to recover damages sustained to the Greene County Courthouse."

Following the commissioner's meeting, the Building Corporation met Dec. 22 and authorized its law firm ---- Drewry Simmons Voorehm, LLP, of Indianapolis to "engage in termination."

David Voorehm reported to Hartman on Wednesday morning that the notices of terminations had been sent out to the respective firms.

Hartman said the act of firing both firms must precede the actual hiring of new design team members.

On Friday, the commissioners will review the applicants and make a recommendation on which ones the Building Corporation will hire. Building Corporation president Musselman or vice president West were authorized to enter into a contract with the new firms, Hartman said.

"They are going to be terminated today, so then we will be in a position to be able to hire another firm. Actually, the problem is the firms, if someone else is doing work, they won't get into a case until they know there is termination done," Hartman said.

Project manager Jim Corey reported that there is an immediate need to have both an architect and engineering company hired.

"It needs to be done," Corey said. "Last meeting, I talked about a four to six week window and that window is closing on us quickly.

"I need an engineer as soon as possible."

Musselman agreed and added, "We don't want to be responsible for any delays."

Both the terminated "design team members" have already been named in a lawsuit filed jointly on Dec. 30 by Greene County Commissioners and Greene County Building Corporation. The civil lawsuit, filed in Greene Circuit Court, seeks more than $3.1 million in damages caused by the delay in the courthouse renovation/addition project.