$12 Million City-County Building HVAC Project on Hold | News, Sports, Jobs - The Intelligencer

Oct 12, 2024

photo by: Joselyn King

Much of the ceiling in the second floor hallway of the City-County Building in Wheeling has been removed as workers prepare for the placement of a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system in the building.

WHEELING — A “bus duct” electrical piece needed to complete a $12 million project to replace the heating and air conditioning system at the City-County Building in Ohio County won’t be making a stop in Wheeling anytime soon.

In short, work on the project is on hold at the City-County Building until the bus duct arrives, explained Melissa Marco, project coordinator for Ohio County. And that part, ordered nearly two years ago, won’t be available until 2025.

Marco met Thursday with representatives of Wesco Eaton, which manufactures the bus duct at a plant in North Carolina. They informed her delivery of the needed part would again be delayed.

“This time they didn’t even give me a date,” Marco said. “They just said it would be sometime in 2025.”

Used in commercial and industrial settings, a bus duct is a conduit made of sheet metal with copper bars inside that conducts electricity to power cables or a cable bus.

During construction, it is less expensive to install than extensive wiring.

Ohio County ordered the bus duct needed for their HVAC project in December 2022, Marco said. It has been delayed multiple times since then because of supply chain issues. The project was expected to take about 18 months, and the county has now waited nearly two years for the bus duct to arrive so the bulk of the work could get started.

Most recently, the bus duct was scheduled to be delivered to Ohio County on Oct. 18, Marco informed Ohio County commissioners.

“That has held for the past two months,” Marco said of the Oct. 18 date. “But we found out that there were two scheduled for delivery on that day, and there is only one bus duct.”

She learned Thursday that Ohio County would not be receiving the unit.

For now, the HVAC replacement work is at a standstill, according to Marco.

“You can’t start without it (the bus duct),” she explained. “It energizes everything. You can’t energize space and bring electric to it without the bus duct.”

When the bus duct comes to Ohio County, Marco said she will coordinate with Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron to determine the logistics for moving city workers into “swing spaces” that will serve as their temporary offices.

As workers become displaced from their offices, they and their individual computers will be moved to swing spaces either on the fourth floor of the City-County Building or in the former Wheeling Police Department area on the first floor.

Marco indicated the logistics for the moves are going to be complicated, and are going to take about three weeks for each department.

“As we’ve started to unravel the pieces, it has become a much larger project than we expected,” she said. “We have the city completely figured out, and we are completely ready.”

The next move following the city offices would be the County Clerk of Courts Office. This will involve dealings with the office of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Meanwhile, energy-saving projects additional to the HVAC replacement have been taking place at the City-County Building this year. Work has involved the installation of new windows throughout the building, as well as pipes and chaseways needed for the new HVAC system.

Cattrell Companies of Toronto, Ohio, is the general contractor for the project.

An ordinance approved in October 2022 by Ohio County commissioners allowed the county to borrow most of the money needed for the HVAC replacement project – or the first $10 million – through non-taxable Series A bonds, with any other money needed to be obtained through taxable Series B bonds. The total amount borrowed cannot exceed $12 million, the ordinance states.

Masonry workers from Angelina Stone and Marble are continuing work to replace/rehabilitate granite slabs on the exterior of the building. That project, which is being paid for through funds from state Courthouse Facilities Improvement Project funds, is to be wrapped up by the end of the year.