PELL CITY — Construction of the $6.1 million Alabama Department of Human Resources facility could begin within six weeks.
Jason Goodgame with Goodgame Company, who is construction manager and overseeing the project for the St. Clair County Public Building Authority, said bids for the construction project were opened two weeks ago, and actual site work should begin in four to six weeks.
He said the authority must first secure a $7 million bond issue before work begins.
Goodgame said through a lease agreement with the authority, the state will basically pay the bond issue payments.
He said the project was bid out in four areas: site work, general trade, mechanical and electrical work.
He said Veteran’s Landscape of Birmingham will do the site work; Baggette Construction of Decatur will do the general trade work or construction of the facility; R.J. Mechanical Inc. will install all the plumbing and fire protection; and Acker Electric Company of Anniston will do all the electrical work for the project.
On Monday, the Pell City Council waived all building fees and permits for the project. The facility is being built adjacent to the Alabama Department of Health facility on Fox Hollow Boulevard on an 8-acre site west of the health department.
Goodgame said it will take about nine months to build the facility, once construction begins.
He said the 30,000 square foot facility will be a single-level structure.
“It’s substantially bigger than the previous building, about 50 percent bigger,” Goodgame said.
Cherri Pilkington Hamlin, director of the St. Clair County Department of Human Resources, said the staff is looking forward to moving into their new offices next spring.
“It’s a long time coming,” she said.
The DHR office is split up in two locations instead of under one roof, and it has been that way for several years.
“It will be three years in August,” Hamlin said.
The former St. Clair County Department of Human Resources building was gutted by fire after an arsonist set fire to the facility in 2009.
Currently the St. Clair County DHR is operating out of the top floor of the Martin Professional building, across from the vacant St. Vincent’s St. Clair Hospital, with a second location at 1310 Comer Ave.
“We are looking forward to being all together again,” Hamlin said. “It will be a lot easier for people.”
