The warden of Antigonish Co. says municipal officials are reviewing their options for work on their courthouse.
Councillors voted to issue a tender for work on the building on Main St. in Antigonish in March.
Owen McCarron, the warden of the municipality, says they received one response back, and it was significantly higher than anticipated, so they’ve gone back to the drawing board to find a way to get the work done.
After a special council meeting Monday night, McCarron said they’ve directed staff members to review their options.
“We have a scope of work that we’d like to get done, but we also have a budget in mind,” he said. “We just felt it was important that we go back and look (to determine) is there any opportunity to get it done a bit cheaper?”
McCarron said issuing a different tender is one possibility.
He said they hope to start some of the repairs while the weather is still on their side.
“Obviously, we’d like to get some exterior work done- some work around the entry way- we’d like to get that done, certainly late summer or mid-fall, in that range.”
McCarron said some work to the building has already been completed, including the installation of heat pumps in late 2019.
He said they recognize it’s an old building, and the nature of renovations is there are a lot of unknowns, so they set aside roughly $175,000 for the repairs in their 2020-21 municipal budget.
