HERMANN — Bids will be going out for the installation of an elevator in the Gasconade County Courthouse.

The County Commission Thursday morning cleared the way for Archer-Elgin Engineering to proceed with soliciting prices from elevator construction companies. At this point, county administrators don’t have a firm grasp of what the project will cost.

The plan is to finance the elevator project with remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, which also are being used to finance the renovation work to the exterior of the courthouse. The courthouse work has been taking place the past several weeks. County officials had an informal projection of about $2.1 million for all the work, which would leave only about $300,000 of the $2.4 million available for other uses. The county received a $2.8-million allocation from the federal government in ARPA funds, aimed at boosting local economies that suffered during the coronavirus pandemic.

Engineers Cameron Schweiss and Josh Kendle met last week with the County Commission for an update on the elevator project. The installation of a lift was a priority item on the wish list of courthouse improvement offered in the past year by officeholders and staffers. An elevator first was proposed for getting people to the second floor offices more than a decade ago.

County government has been operating under a waiver from the federal government regarding offering second-floor offices’ services to the disabled on the first floor of the historic building. At the time county government was pressed to make the second-floor accessible to the disabled who could not use the stairs, the county did not have the funds to install an elevator. The availability of the ARPA funds makes installation of an elevator possible.

Schweiss said a major concern about installing the shaft for the elevator — which will be large enough to carry four or five people at a time — is the work needed to install the lift’s pit in the basement. It’s not know just how much rock will have to be chiseled out to accommodate the 3-feet-deep pit.

“We know there’s got to be bedrock down there somewhere,” Schweiss said.

The work jack-hammering out the rock from what is now a part of the Emergency Operations Center space will take place during off-hours because of the noise that will be created.

“There definitely are some unknowns” surrounding the excavation, he said, which makes it difficult to give a firm estimate of the cost of that portion of the project.

The elevator shaft will extend from the basement to about a foot above the floor of the attic. The lift is being designed to stop on all three levels of the courthouse and will be located on the east side of the main entrance to the courthouse.

Entry to the courthouse will be disrupted for an extended period of time, at least six weeks, according to the engineers’ presentation Thursday. That means staff and others entering the courthouse will do so through the single north-side door with the Sheriff’s Department’s metal detector and deputy’s station moved across the lobby to the north-side door, which is the designated entry door for officeholders and courthouse staff. Access is obtained by entering the correct combination on the electronic door lock.

Schweiss said there will be a lot of rock to remove to allow the necessary depth of the pit. “Rock or no rock, it’s going to be a costly excavation,” he told county administrators. “The question is, is it seven yards or is it 12 yards of material” to be hauled out of the basement, he said.

There are several companies that construct elevators, the engineers said.

“Let’s hope we got lots of bids,” noted Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann. “Three or four would be great.”

“Contractors are looking for work right now,” Schweiss said. “There are multiple manufacturers that will be interested in bidding on it.”

“We’re ready to go, I guess,” Schulte said, sending the engineers to the next phase of the project — getting a more-definite idea of the cost.