WASHINGTON

Although formal action was tabled to next week’s meeting, the Washington County supervisors Tuesday agreed that changes involving windows, doors and access means will “save a lot of money” in the remodeling project for county offices.

The six change orders would lower the project shortfall from $138,000 (already down from the original approximately $180,000) to $50,000, well within the more than $100,000 contingency allocation in the original budget.

The deletions involved not replacing some windows that were found “to not be that old” and security measures for the building doors. An initial motion to approve part of the deletions was defeated, allowing time for the members to personally visit the site and review the door access.

The board also discussed selection of law firm of Ahlers and Cooney, Des Moines, to provide labor relations and human resources, but tabled action to next week to allow time for a contract detailing terms, especially to have a flat annual fee for specified services and an option regarding hourly payment for other services. The issue had been discussed in detail in the first work session September 25 with a fee range of $30,000 to $40,000. Tuesday, the figure was narrowed to $30,000 with the option of considering hourly fees for some services.

In its only other business, the supervisors approved the hiring of Aimie Fries for the Environmental Health Department/environmental health specialist for the county Public Health Department, effective October 7 at $21 per hour. Fries had previously served as an intern there.