Earthwork continues at Floyd County law enforcement center site

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

There’s a lot of dirt being moved near the Floyd County courthouse as work proceeds on the new law enforcement center.

Brian Shindelar, project supervisor with the Samuels Group, the county’s construction management company, said that currently soil is being removed that is unsuitable to pour concrete footings and floors on.

Soil testing by Terracon Consultants identified which areas of soil need to be removed, Shindelar said. Staff from Chosen Valley Testing in Mason City will be at the site to continue soil tests as material is removed.

The soil needs to be able to withstand a certain amount of compression pressure so the footings and floor slab don’t shift.

Shindelar said they should be able to begin pouring concrete in about three weeks if they get the precast embeds for the footings.

The embeds are pieces of plates that are anchored into the footings when they are poured, that will line up with similar plates of metal embedded into the precast walls so the plates can be welded together to anchor the walls in place.

Because the walls of the law enforcement center are being built with precast concrete panels, they should go up fairly quickly once that process starts.

The $16 million project that includes a new county jail and sheriff’s offices in the law enforcement center, as well as updates to the courthouse, is expected to be finished in early 2021.