Renovations Continue at Centre County Courthouse

BELLEFONTE — Centre County’s courtroom No. 1 continues to get a facelift.

Centre County’s director of facilities management, Lee Sheaffer, said that some improvements are needed to repair the plaster work in the courtroom.

“Of course, we’ve had some substantial work taking place in the courthouse in the past few years, which has caused some cracks, some separation of the plaster,” Sheaffer explained. “This will address that. … We consider this to be a slight safety issue. We are working with the court as well and we have a two-week window at the end of January.”

The cost of the plaster work will be $39,386. Work is slated to be done by Penn Installations Inc., Sheaffer said.

“We anticipate it’s going to take the full two weeks to complete this work. Penn Installations will provide air filtration. We’ll move all the IT equipment and such out … protection of the walls and floors, things like that,” Sheaffer said.

They will also take the opportunity to dry clean the drapes and paintings.

The county is quite familiar with Penn Installations, Sheaffer said.

“They did plaster work at the sheriff’s office,” he said.

Commissioner Steve Dershem asked if the project had to be bid out.

“The plaster work is a professional service. We reached out to some other services because of the cost. But, with the safety issue we’re seeing and the timing with the court schedule … this is one that we were able to secure and move forward with,” Sheaffer said.

Commissioner Michael Pipe talked about the importance of completing the work on courtroom No. 1.

“To think generations and generations ago, part of that ceiling was put up and now we’re just giving it a little TLC and keeping it looking nice. It’s important to have courtroom No. 1 really looking presentable. … We know the judges and the courts really appreciate it,” Pipe said.

Another facilities item was the annual tests and inspections of the Simplex Fire Alarm System for the Willowbank Building. According to Sheaffer, Appellation Constructions Services LLC will provide those services. The contract is estimated at $3,381.

Both items were unanimously moved to next week’s consent agenda.

The Centre County Board of Commissioners will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 27, at the Willowbank Building. The meeting is open to the public and will also be televised live by C-NET.

This story appears in the Dec. 22-28 edition of The Centre County Gazette.