The Legislature amended the County’s Capital Program to increase the project cost of code and building improvements for the Tompkins Center for History and Culture.  The vote was 12-1, with Legislator Leslyn McBean-Clairborne voting no.  (Legislator Glenn Morey was excused.)  The increase of $445,000, to a total project cost of $3,345,100, reflects additional costs that arose during the course of design and bidding, which increased total cost beyond the existing $2.9 million previously appropriated for the project. 

The County’s net cost is now $2,795,100 after receipt of grants and donations—$450,000 originally pledged from leaders of the Tompkins Center for History and Culture capital fundraising campaign (which is now being delivered as part of a half-million-dollar grant from the State and Municipal Facilities Program) and a $100,000 capital grant from the County’s Strategic Tourism Planning Board.

Last year, the County acquired the Tompkins Trust Company building on the Ithaca Commons to house the History Center and other community non-profits as part of the Tompkins Center, after the bank relocates to its new financial headquarters later this month.

Construction Contracts:  In a separate action, the Legislature, without dissent, also awarded construction contracts for the Tompkins Center improvement project—to Marchuska Brothers Construction, LLC, of Endicott, for the General Work Contract ($561,000); Johnson Controls, Inc., of Rochester, for the Mechanical Contract ($502,638); and Richardson Brothers Electrical Contractors, Inc., of Ithaca, for the Electrical Contract $135,550).