By Conrad Dudderar
Associate Editor
EL RENO – A new four-story Canadian County Courthouse is projected to open in spring 2027.
An estimated one-year design phase will start soon before a two-year construction process.
“You’re about three years out,” construction manager Stan Lingo told Canadian County Commissioners at their March 18th regular meeting.
During Monday morning’s meeting, commissioners voted 3-0 to approve option 5 for the new Canadian County Courthouse master plan.
A seven-member committee composed of elected county officials recently recommended this option, which features a 67-foot-tall building to house both Canadian County government and judicial offices.
The master plan calls for 112,407 square feet of new construction with no renovation of existing offices. Projected cost is $71 million.
“Let it begin!” County Commission Chairman Tom Manske said of the new courthouse build. “This is exciting!”
Construction manager Lingo will return at the Canadian County Commissioners’ April 1st meeting to present a “global schedule” for the project.
Lingo will recommend members to serve on a three-person building committee that will have the authority to make decisions during the development process.
The new Canadian County Courthouse will be built at the site of the current County Administration Building (“old courthouse”), 200 N Choctaw. It will have a minimal basement, secure parking at grade and vehicle sallyport.
The building will feature space for Canadian County District Court, District Attorney, Court Clerk, Human Resources, County Treasurer, County Assessor, County Clerk, County Commissioners, Sheriff, and Emergency Management offices.
An architect’s drawing shows 341 existing parking spaces and “possible closure” of W Rogers between Choctaw and Admire.
Canadian County personnel with offices in the 62-year-old administration building will be temporarily relocated to other nearby buildings during construction of the new courthouse facility.
The 36-year-old Canadian County Judicial Building at 300 N Choctaw – which now houses the District Court, District Attorney and Court Clerk – will remain standing for possible use by other county departments.
NEXT STEPS
The design phase of the Canadian County Courthouse project will begin now that the master plan has been completed. Working closely with construction manager Lingo will be MA+ Architecture, the project architect.
Next steps in the process will be preparing the schematic design, design development and construction documents.
This will be a “very interactive” process involving designers, engineers, the construction manager, and owner representatives, Lingo told Canadian County Commissioners.
“As the construction manager, I will be giving advice to you as the commissioners about budget, and where we are at, at each step,” he explained. “If we are increasing scope and increasing budget, then I report to you with not only that information – but the steps to correct that.”
Development of a new Canadian County Courthouse campus will be done using budgeted county funds, loans and grants. There will be no tax increase proposed for this project, county officials emphasized.
Design and engineering fees (referred to as “soft costs”) will be 7-8% of the total project, according to Lingo. The county will spend these funds during this first year.
“The ‘hard’ dollars spent on the construction process would be at least a year out,” Lingo advised commissioners. “This is a once-in-a-century building. So, we want to design correctly.
“It’s going to have up-to-date interior components. So, it will take a little bit of time to design and to get it exactly right.”
Although many Canadian County personnel are anxious to occupy the new courthouse building, District 2 Commissioner Dave Anderson said this time will give the county the opportunity to set aside more budgeted funds for construction.
“So, we borrow less,” Anderson said. “We’re just a couple months away from our new fiscal year, which allows us to ‘carve out’ some additional money for the project.
“Having that large outlay of cash starting two fiscal years from now is going to help us get to that.”
A cash flow projection will be produced at the end of the schematic design phase, Lingo pointed out.
“The dollars are spent as we complete the project,” he said. “We will provide that cash flow.
“I encourage you to keep in mind there is a lot of construction work in the Oklahoma region. Oklahoma is not in a deflation or a recession mode in construction. Construction costs go up 4 to 6% a year right now.”
In his budget projection, Lingo said he “built in” 18 months at a 4.5% inflation rate.
The construction manager will be able to order some components early to lock-in prices – thus avoiding cost increases and scheduling conflicts during Canadian County’s courthouse build.
“It is our job to market this (project) to the subcontractors to get the best price possible,” Lingo said. “We know when some price increases are happening, so we want to purchase or ‘get under contract’ the rest of the project by getting those secured before those price increases happen.”
Lingo estimated a two-year construction timeline, with the last two to three months when county departments will set up their offices before moving into the newly constructed building.
THIS AND THAT …
Among other business at their weekly meeting March 18, Canadian County Commissioners approved:
- Engaging Turner and Associates PLC to provide fiscal year 2025 budgeting services.
- A resolution allowing District 3 to accept a $1,098 donation from the Leck Family Trust.
- An agreement with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services to pay a share of heating, air conditioning and venting (HVAC) expenses at the Children’s Justice Center.
- Acknowledging the designation of Krystal Killman-Rogers and Sunga Jotty Martini as requisitioning officers and Brooklin Ellison and Larisa Hooper as receiving officers for the Children’s Justice Center.
- Agreements with Prodigy Solutions to manage inmate telephone, visitation, messaging, commissary, and trust account management for the Sheriff’s Office.
- Resolutions to dispose of a 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe and 2013 Dodge Charger for the Sheriff’s Office. These vehicles were sold in an online auction.
Undersheriff Kevin Ward presented the weekly county jail report at the March 18th meeting showing a total population of 163 inmates, with 150 housed at the El Reno detention center and 13 others in contracted counties.
The total count is up by one from last week as nine prisoners await transfer to state prison.
