By Gail Geraghty

Staff Writer

When your tenant is part of the Maine District Court system, certain standards must be maintained.

For several years, the Bridgton District Court, which leases space in the Bridgton Municipal Complex, has been seeking renovation and repair of its entrance area and restrooms. The Court also wanted lighted exit signage and improvements in its courtroom, related to the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Recently, the town was able to negotiate a 50/50 reimbursement of those renovation costs with the court, and took the project out to bid. Only one company bid on the project, and that was Eric Wissmann of M&S Builders of Maine, Inc., a Lovell construction company.

A second prospective bidder, Jev Jesjunins of New England Property Management and Services of Portland, also attended a mandatory pre-bid meeting on the project, but declined to bid, “due to its small volume, your limited budget and our driving time from Portland,” Jesjunins wrote to Deputy Town Manager Georgiann Fleck.

Wissmann’s bid was $18,782, and he said he’d be happy to work around the court schedule, “including after hours at no additional cost.”

At their April 8 meeting, Bridgton Selectmen accepted the bid. Town Manager Mitch Berkowitz noted that the District Court’s standards “meet or exceed ADA requirements.” He added that M&S Builders is “a quality company.”

The breakdown of bid costs reveal that making repairs to a court facility is a pricy business. Adjusting and affixing the hallway door frame in the court’s general waiting area, for example, will cost $1,332, and resetting all exterior doors will cost $2,600. Thermal pipe protection in each restroom will cost $846, and removing the stall divider and installing a grab bar in the men’s restroom will cost $495.

Replacing the swing gate in the courtroom, if needed, will cost $706. Installing two lighted exit signs in the courtroom will cost $2,730. An emergency light in the general waiting area will cost $975. Swapping out the doors at the entrances to the courtroom and the selectmen’s meeting room will cost $1,998, and patching, priming and painting the Court’s general waiting area and hallways will cost $1,332.