$1 million contract OK'd for Batavia city hall windows

Batavia is going to spend $1.04 million to replace and fix the windows at the Batavia Government Center, as it continues to update the 116-year-old building.

The city council approved a contract Monday night with Schramm Construction Inc. of St. Charles, the lowest of two bidders. The other firm, BGH Construction of Batavia, offered to do the job for $1.4 million.

Schramm will install 96 windows clad in aluminum on the outside and trimmed with pine on the inside. It will also replace, as needed, limestone sills on an estimated 45 of the windows and install new interior blinds.

The work will be done over three years, to spread the cost through three budgets. That, however, discouraged some bidders, according to a city memo on the topic.

"It is going to be a welcome change to this building. We are really excited and we are going to take care of this building," Alderman Alan Wolff said.

A committee of building inspectors and architects assessed the building in 2015. The city bought the former factory in 1973, moved city offices into it in the early 1980s and spent $3 million in 1994 for the police department and city council room.

Work that was suggested, and has been done, included upgrading the elevator, adding a separate cooling system for the computer server room, upgrading the security system, replacing a furnace, upgrading the fire suppression system and bringing electrical wiring up to code.

The roof is also being replaced, a job that also includes installing some new support beams in the space the Albright Theater rents on the third floor. The beams in that area had become "spongy," according to the 2015 report, and temporary supports were installed. One project next year is replacing the main stairwell from the first to second floor. Its open design for the steps and banisters does not meet current safety codes.

"We've all talked about this for a long time. These windows are in very poor condition," Alderman Dave Brown said.