Millersburg's Courthouse lighting project moving forward

As Kerry Taylor, Millersburg Electric president and owner, and his crew prepare to tackle the job of doing the electrical work for new lights to the courthouse exterior, all entities involved have found it may take a bit of patience to get to work on a job they are all eager to see get done.

“Lighting is a little complicated,” Taylor said. “There’s a lot of different layers involved, so we have to purchase them through a wholesaler and then purchase them through the manufacturer.”

Taylor said the manufacturer representative was on vacation as Millersburg Electric began pursuing purchase of the lights, so they had to wait for him to return to learn more about availability.

Commissioner Dave Hall said the commissioners’ concern is the county purchases the lights that were exactly specified in the initial request.

“We sent them the design plans, and they did the take-offs, and they were already very familiar because they had been working with KLH on the project,” Taylor said of working through Midstate Contractors, which is a subcontractor that will do the mounting and installation of the lights on the outside of the courthouse.

Taylor said they will coordinate with Midstate President Doug Hooper on work being done on the mounting brackets, and he will make a template.

He said he believes Hooper’s team will not utilize a crane to do the mounting, instead opting to use the access points on the courthouse clocktower to do the necessary work.

He said the two companies would have a preconstruction meeting to make sure everyone is on the same page prior to beginning any work.

It is stated in the contract that KLH is the final deciding factor in where each light will aim because its team has designed many major courthouse projects like this in the past.

Taylor said that will prevent the need for any late-night work for Midstate in which they would be trying to perfectly align the lights.

The new lighting system will include a controller that will be operated by Susan Schie, commissioner clerk, who has been controlling the current lights in the clocktower.

Hall said the hope is the new system will allow Schie to operate the changing of the colors of lights that are available in the clocktower clocks currently.

“We have so many different colors that different groups are requesting for special occasions,” Hall said. “We want to make sure that continues to be available, and it’s neat to have that available to the community.”

He said once this project is complete, it will take the appeal and beauty of the courthouse to a whole new level, one that should become even more attractive to both locals and tourists.

“It’s going to present a great opportunity for people to take a gander at this incredible structure that is all lit up at night, which gives it a whole new appeal,” Hall said.

The groups involved in the project are seeking to complete the job prior to the holiday season later this year.