Putnam County will move forward on a library expansion project despite receiving bids higher than expected.
Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said the county received an estimated $2 million grant from the state to expand the library. However, Porter said the bids came back an estimated $600,000 over budget. Porter said he met with an architect on Friday to see what could be done to reduce the cost of the project.
“While we were there, they were going to redo the parking lot and do a bunch of stuff with it, so we were able to take that out and change some walls of the way they layed here or there, and those kind of things, and able to get it back down,” Porter said.
Porter said the expansion will add about 3,000 square feet of space to the library. Porter said the expansion will accommodate the growth the county has seen over the past several years.
“One of the key things the state was looking at in this grant was being able to provide a space for folks to come in and be able to learn about telehealth and online services that are available to folks, and to have folks there at the library that could teach them about that, and so that will be a part of it,” Porter said. “And then another part of it was expanding the children’s area downstairs. It was getting kind of crammed, and so part of that space will be for the children also.”
Porter said the project will not have to go out for rebid.
“We are okay to work with the low bidder,” Porter said. “We put that in our bid specs to be able to work with the low bidder on value engineering, so that’s what we are doing.”
Porter said the project is expected to begin in January or February, with a completion deadline of October 2026.