A rendering shows the planned Smith County Courthouse and parking garage. (Contributed Photo)

Plans continue to move forward for construction of a new Smith County Courthouse in downtown Tyler.

Adding movement to the anticipated project, the Smith County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved the advertising for a Construction Manager-At-Risk for the new courthouse and parking facility.

According to Jaye Latch, purchasing director for Smith County, there is a two-step process which will be conducted by an evaluation committee to oversee the process of the project.

“We will request for qualifications first, submissions will be evaluated then based on published criteria, based on qualifications only,” she said.

Step 2 involves requesting for proposals with interviews, and then evaluating based on cost, as well as the qualifications.

“We will rescore the most qualified … and best value for Smith County and bring it back to court for a vote,” said Latch.

“I really like the two-step process… it’s very transparent,” said County Judge Neal Franklin.

According to Thomas Wilson, assistant district attorney for Smith County, the role of a Manager-At-Risk is to make sure each part of the process does not exceed its set amount.

“In essence, it is a general contractor for the county but there are specific statutory requirements that they must meet, certain things they have to do,” said Thomas.

Thomas mentioned there are three phases to this process: parking lot, demolition, and courthouse phases.

Each of the three phases will have a price that is set and the Manager-At-Risk will not exceed, as well as not exceeding the total construction price.

Latch stated it is ideal to bring in the Manager-At-Risk early, with at least 50% of the design phase completed.

“They advise the architect on finishing out the design phase and construction ability,” she said. “The manager goes out and gets bids for the job, comes up with a guaranteed maximum price for each of the phases.”

The projected timeline of the parking lot phase is to start June or July.

Smith County voters in November approved a $179 bond measure to fund a new county courthouse. About 54% were in favor of the bond, which will allow $160 million to build the new courthouse while $19 million will go toward an associated parking garage.

Taxpayers will see an impact of about 3.67 cents, or an increase of about $73.40 per year on a $200,000 home. Residents who are 65 or older will have $0 tax impact over their frozen amount.

Discussions have been ongoing for decades about the state of the current courthouse, all coming to the same conclusion that the current structure has space and safety issues. One of the biggest concerns are the shared corridors in the current six-story structure where judges, jurors, the public and people in custody all cross paths. Along with this, a shooting at the courthouse in 2005 spurred even more safety concerns, leading officials to explore numerous solutions.

As the plans stand now, the exterior of the new courthouse will have similarities to the historic 1910 county courthouse. It will be built on the east side of the downtown square, in between the courthouse annex and jail. The location was chosen after studies showed it would have the lowest impact on taxpayers, among other benefits, former county judge Nathaniel Moran previously told the Tyler Morning Telegraph.

Throughout the building there will be three separate corridors – keeping the public, those in custody, jury and judges apart – adding an extra level of security.

There will be a total of 12 trial courtrooms on three floors of the structure allowing for growth. Initially, nine of those courtrooms will be used. With the extra room, the courthouse is estimated to be able to accommodate for 75 years of growth, according to officials.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the commissioners court approved the following entities for the May 6 elections:

• City of Tyler
• City of Winona
• Chapel Hill ISD
• Lindale ISD
• Tyler ISD

They also approved the following facilities for voting in the May 6 elections:

• Arp First Baptist Church
• Bullard Southern Baptist Church
• Cameron J Jarvis Library
• Chapel Hill Administrative Building
• Chapel Hill Fire Department
• Hideaway Member Services Building
• Lanes Chapel
• Lindale Masonic Lodge No. 848
• New Harmony Baptist Church
• Noonday Community Center
• Old Tyler Airport
• St. Violet Baptist Church
• Tyler Independent School District
• Victory Kay Gymnasium
• Whitehouse Methodist Church