Bids good for McHenry County animal facility

Construction bids for McHenry County's new animal control facility came in $300,000 under budget, officials announced this week, bringing some long-awaited good news to a project plagued for months by controversy.

Officials initially estimated the cost of renovating the former State Farm Insurance building in Crystal Lake for use as an animal shelter, veterinary clinic, dog and cat adoption center and related office space at about $2 million.

But when the bids were compiled this week, the total came in at about $1.7 million. Cathy Link, the county's director of purchasing, said the savings were spread across the various trades that will be contracted to work on the project.

News of the potential savings was welcomed by county board members, who in recent months had to scale back some of the proposed work on the building because costs could have exceeded the initial $2 million estimate by as much as $700,000.

Board members also have contended with internal dissent over the process used to buy the former State Farm building for $1.7 million.

Link said demolition inside the building will begin next week and the target date for opening the new facility is January 2008.