HERMANN — Preliminary work for the installation of an elevator in the Gasconade County courthouse could begin in the next couple months with the project expected to take three months — depending on how long it might take to get the elevator itself.

That was the assessment of engineer Cameron Schweiss of Archer-Elgin of Rolla, the county’s consulting engineering company. Schweiss presented a status report on the project at last Thursday’s session of the County Commission.

“It’s going to be a tricky project,” Schweiss said. “Not an extremely difficult project, but a tricky project.”

The work will require many hands.

“It’s going to be labor intensive, no doubt,” said Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville.

And it’s going to be noisy, especially the removal of bedrock in the basement to  accommodate a deeper pit than first thought to hold the equipment needed to operate the lift. “It’s not going to be a fun job, but it’s not an impossible task,” Schweiss said.

The rock removal, which will require noisy jackhammers, will be scheduled during off-hours and on weekends, the engineer said.

“We’d like to minimize your disruption as much as possible,” Schweiss told the Commission.

During the initial work on the plans, there was consideration of both an electric-operated elevator and a hydraulics-operated version. An electric-operated lift would require more space and would be more costly, which makes it less likely considering one of the concerns about an elevator inside the historic building is its effect on the limited space.

According to the current plans, the project will require basement space that’s now part of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and first-floor space adjacent to the Commission Chamber that’s now used as storage by the County Clerk’s Office. The elevator should not have as much affect on the second floor.

As proposed, county administrators would vacate the Commission Chamber to be used for storage by the County Clerk’s Office. Several locations in the courthouse have been mentioned as possible Commission meeting sites — the first-floor courtroom across the hall from the Commission Chamber; a second-floor Sheriff’s Department room used for fingerprinting and other processing work; and the meeting area of the EOC.

The elevator will be located immediately east of the main entrance to the courthouse. The lift’s doors will open toward the lobby area to the north. Some thought had been given to having doors open to the west, but that caused a concern for security measures in that it might allow those entering the courthouse to get into the elevator without going through the metal detector at the main entrance. Having the elevator doors open to the north would mean riders would have to go through the metal detector.

Schweiss said the project has moved along and the engineers are about done with the drawings.

“We’ve got some electrical design work to do; we’ve got some construction design work to do,” he said, adding that the goal is to put the project out for bids within a month and allow a three-week period to receive bids.

The elevator and exterior work to the courthouse will be funded with the county’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act money. Gasconade County government has about $2.4 million of its allocation of federal economic stimulus money left from its total of about $2.8 million. About $600,000 of the first $1.4-million allotment was dispersed to local government entities, non-profit organizations and small businesses looking to recover from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. A second round of ARPA money distribution was planned and there have been more than a dozen requests for funds totaling about $1.4 million.

However, the elevator and the exterior work on the courthouse have been estimated to cost about $2.1 million. That would leave little to be divided among those requesting funds in the second round of distribution — if the Commission decides to follow through on a second round of distribution.

Commissioners are not scheduled to meet this week due to the fair.