Building Commission OKs repairs to Capitol dome, $7M worth of work to Waupun prison

The State Building Commission on Wednesday approved projects to repair the State Capitol dome, improve a prison in Waupun and install a backup heating system at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Meeting at State Fair Park in West Allis, members of the building commission unanimously voted in favor of making the first substantial improvements the Waupun Correctional Institution’s behavioral health wing will have seen in decades and replacing roofs at the state Capitol and patching the outside of its dome. Specifically, the nearly $4 million worth of work proposed for the Capitol building would repair damaged joints on its dome’s exterior, replace roofs on its 3^rd and 4^th floors and restore the Assembly chamber’s ceiling.

In June 2018, a study of the Capitol dome found it’s generally in good condition. But it also concluded that mortar joints lying between stones along the dome’s exterior ribs were deteriorating. Crews have been using caulk to make patches, but that’s only a temporary answer.

All told, restoring the dome is expected to cost about $1.6 million. Bids for the project are scheduled to be opened in February, and the work itself is to be completed in November 2020.

Other plans approved on Wednesday call for replacing more than 40,000 square feet of roofing on the building’s 3^rd and 4^th floors. The Capitol has four roofs on each of its levels.

The roofs up for replacement were installed 21 years ago as part of a larger restoration project. Recent site inspections have revealed faulty sealant and deteriorating insulation. Bids for the roof work are scheduled to be opened in November, and the work itself is to be completed in November 2020.

Also included in the Capitol work are plans for the restoration of a 4,000-square-foot section of the Assembly chamber ceiling. That $465,000 job is to go out to bid in November and to wrap up a year later.

Waupun prison work

The building commission also signed off on nearly $7 million worth of work to the Waupun Correctional Institution’s Behavioral Health Unit Building – a section of the prison that has 59 single cells for inmates with psychological disorders and various other issues. The plan calls for improving cell doors, plumbing and electrical systems and turning three specific cells into a pair of cells better suited to disabled inmates. The Legislature approved the project in 2017.

The original wing of the Waupun prison was built in 1956 and got an addition in 1982 but has not undergone any big repairs since. It’s the only building in the Waupun complex not to have been improved.

Bids on the project are to be opened in May 2020 and the work is to wrap up in August 2021.

Among the other projects approved by the building commission on Wednesday were:

• Utility work at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. This nearly $4 million project will add new fuel oil burners, storage tanks and other equipment needed to provide the campus with 72 hours of backup heat in an emergency. Bids for this work are to be opened in February, and the project is to wrap up in August 2021.
• Department of Military Affairs steam boiler and HVAC work: This nearly $3 million project will replace the boiler and HVAC systems at the DMA’s Hayward Readiness Center. Bids for the work are to be opened in October and the project is scheduled to wrap up in June 2020.
• Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center’s cabling installation. This $2.1 million project will add communication systems and a fiber-optic cable needed for high-speed data transmission and a new VoIP system at Sand Ridge. The project is to go out to bid in September and to wrap up in January 2021.