City Commissioners approved a $27,295 contract for the Municipal Court relocation project during their Nov. 19 meeting.

Staff recommended approval of the contract to Central Technologies, Inc. for installing data cabling and connectivity featured throughout the new court footprint in the former Missouri Room upstairs at the Civic Center.

The Municipal Court is currently one courtroom located in the basement of the Civic Center and the city is renovating the Missouri Room upstairs into two courtrooms and office space for staff to accommodate the second judge added by voters in 2022.

City officials identified the court relocation as top priority project for federal COVID relief funds in 2022 and last year developed the design.

Commissioners approved a $2.19 million contract to Wadsworth Builders in March 2024. Construction began in July and will continue through the spring. In October, commissioners approved an adjustment, adding $200,000 in contingency funds to the project, bringing the total to $2.39 million.

City adjusts court relocation contract

Staff worked with the project architect to identify the IT needs for the court and is “confident that this proposal will provide adequate access and connectivity to enable efficient operations for the courts,” according to the staff report.

The project is being funded with American Rescue Plan Act, or federal COVID relief, funds.

City approves Municipal Court relocation contracts

In June, commissioners approved two contracts for the project, $172,897.17 to AVI Systems Inc. and $19,171.39 to Mountain Alarm Fire and Security.

Both contracts are being funded with ARPA dollars.

Since the construction contract was awarded, city staff has been working with IT to define the audio/visual and connectivity needs for the new courtrooms, including computers, cameras, microphones, speakers, auditory aides and televisions for video conferencing, according to staff.

City approves $2.19 million contract for Municipal Court relocation to Missouri Room

“The IT department wanted this system to be able to be integrated, monitored, and serviced by the same vendor who services our other A/V systems throughout the rest of the Civic Center. Therefore, court, IT, and finance staff worked with AVI to develop a Scope of Work for the needs of the new courts,” according to the staff report. “AVI has provided an adequate quote that represents the integration needs of the court staff. Staff requested approval to sole source this contract, based on the fact that AVI is very familiar with the systems throughout the Civic Center and already services all of our other A/V equipment. AVI also has extensive experience in integrating A/V technology in other courtrooms throughout Montana and the northwest.”

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The city finance department granted sole source approval, according to staff.

Since the construction contract was awarded in March, city staff has also been working with the architect on security measures for the new courtrooms.

Commissioners approved the contract with Mountain Alarm to install security access doors throughout the new court space and provide a control and monitoring system for those doors.