Clay County Renovation Modernize Courthouse, County Offices
When Clay County, South Dakota, built a new law enforcement center early this year, it opened up broader opportunities to address needs in other areas of county government.
Lloyd Construction was selected through a formal RFP process to renovate the former police station into country offices, followed by a modernization of the county courthouse.
“There was quite a bit that had to be done,” said Brett Knudson, director of special projects for Lloyd Construction.
“The former police station was built during the 1980s and doubled as a Cold War-era bomb shelter, so it was loaded with concrete walls everywhere. We had a ton of concrete walls to tear out and it became very, very demolition-heavy.”
At the same time, Lloyd Construction was mindful of people working in the area, said Glen Gilbertson, a Clay County commissioner who served on the building committee for the project.
“There was a lot of concrete, which means a lot of noise, but they kept the disruption to a minimum and were very mindful of what they were doing and when they were doing it,” he said. “They were very communicative and we were able to tell our department heads what would be happening on what day.”
The renovation included building out some private offices, including the office of the county treasurer, along with several employee break areas.
“We even repurposed former jail cells into restrooms, so that was a unique conversion,” Knudson said.
The renovated space has been well received by staff and the public, Gilbertson said.
“Our treasurer’s office used to be upstairs in the courthouse and was very crowded, so we wanted to give them more space and make it easier for citizens to come in and handle license plates or property taxes,” he said.
“It turned out really nice. It’s a lot more room for the folks who work in that office and it’s a lot easier for the public to get in and do county business.”
From there, the Lloyd Construction team began improvements to the courthouse, which was built in the early 1900s.
“We renovated and modernized the court room, the judge’s chambers and the jury room with ADA upgrades, security upgrades and other elements that give it a more modern approach,” Knudson said.
With the improvements, the jury room “is much more secure and modernized.” he continued. “And we improved the flow on court day for how people are moved in and out of the courtroom, so someone who is in custody is not brought in through the public spaces.”
From the county‘s perspective, “we’re very happy with it,” Gilbertson said. “It was important to the judge to improve security, and we’ve also been able to move our assessor from a basement office to the second floor as space was freed up, which makes it a bigger, better space that’s easier for people to get to.”
As a commissioner, Gilbertson volunteered to be the liaison between the county and Lloyd Construction, as well as served on the search committee that award Lloyd the job.
“So I was involved from day one, and from the state they were very professional,” he said. “I appreciated that they had their own subcontractors on staff, and we’d meet twice a week to go through the schedule, what had been done and what they were working on the next week. There absolutely was good communication.”
Lloyd Construction established a six-month schedule for the entire project, “and they followed it,” Gilbertson said. “It was amazing how well planned it was. They even got it done ahead of schedule when all was said and done, so we were very impressed with them.”
