Renovations at high court scaled back

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Renovations planned for the Missouri Supreme Court building have been scaled back because of the state's budget problems, officials said Wednesday.

The plans had called for the 95-year-old building to undergo major renovation, including new plumbing, heating and cooling, at an expected cost of $4.9 million.

But bids on the work exceeded the estimate by about $500,000, said Randy Allen, director of the state Division of Design and Construction.

"The legislature is cutting back on the governor's recommendation for any maintenance and repairs for the next two years," Allen said. "Our resources are so limited that we could not put the additional money toward it."

Another hurdle arose when officials were unable to work out the logistics of moving the Supreme Court and the attorney general's office elsewhere during the renovation, which had been scheduled to begin start soon and take up to a year.

Now, the work will include only roof repairs, tuck pointing and removal of mold, to begin this summer.

Allen said the approved repairs will go a long way toward solving the mold problem that became evident last year. High, nonhazardous mold levels were found on walls, duct work and furniture on all three floors of the building.

Judge Laura Denvir Stith and several maintenance workers suffered allergic reactions that may have been linked to mold. Court staff already have installed additional air filters and taken extra cleaning measures.

Allen said the roofing work could cost about $300,000 while the tab for the mold removal should be around $50,000.

"Those things will substantially reduce the water leaks that we think caused most of the mold issue," Allen said.

The state's maintenance budget is prepared every two years, so that any other renovations would be done well into the future.

Chief Justice Stephen Limbaugh Jr. said he was relieved that court staff will not have to move but concerned about the building's condition. A major renovation "has to be done sooner than later, because the building is nearly 100 years old," Limbaugh said. "I understand the budget situation."

Limbaugh said the court already had made plans to put personnel in three locations in Jefferson City, while the judges themselves would have held meetings in the nearby Harry S. Truman Office Building.

"It would have been so unwieldy and we were not looking forward to it," Limbaugh said.

The Missouri Constitution requires the Supreme Court to meet in Jefferson City.

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On the Net

Missouri Supreme Court: www.supremecourt.org