By Traci Chapman
Published on February 2, 2008

The county’s “courthouse annex” remodel is moving slowly forward, but officials are “ecstatic” about the cost savings involved in the project.

Construction supervisor Dennis Land said the bids received for the remodeling project — the future home of the treasurer’s and assessor’s offices — totaled about $300,000.

The annex is located directly east of the county courthouse at 200 N. Choctaw Avenue in El Reno.
He said the total cost so far, due to inmate labor and buying materials directly from suppliers, is far less.

“We are right about at the $8,000 mark on labor and materials right now,” he said. “We will have more materials to buy, and that doesn’t include running the telephone and data lines across the street. But we’re still way under where we thought we would be.”

Major expenses still to be included in the assessor’s office are carpet and data lines. However, county officials said part of what could have been a “huge expense” has been minimized in part through the purchase of the new phone system in September.