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Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 71F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.

Beckenhauer Construction Inc. places the final outer panel of the Adams County Jail during a topping out ceremony Monday.

KeAndrea Golden (left) and Tim King (right) with Beckenhauer Construction Inc. help place the final outer panel of the Adams County Jail during a topping out ceremony Monday.

Rick Fahrenholtz with the Adams County Sheriff’s Department signs the final outer panel at the topping out ceremony for the Adams County Jail Monday.

Beckenhauer Construction Inc. places the final outer panel of the Adams County Jail during a topping out ceremony Monday.

KeAndrea Golden (left) and Tim King (right) with Beckenhauer Construction Inc. help place the final outer panel of the Adams County Jail during a topping out ceremony Monday.

Rick Fahrenholtz with the Adams County Sheriff’s Department signs the final outer panel at the topping out ceremony for the Adams County Jail Monday.

A dams County officials and other participants involved in the construction of the new county jail were on site Aug. 22 to sign the last piece of precast wall panel to be installed on the building’s exterior.

Groundbreaking for the project occurred during a cold and rainy ceremony on April 5. Since then, progress has cruised along.

“We worked really hard to develop a tight schedule with our subcontractors, and we’re constantly updating that as we go,” said Jan Beran, project estimator for general contractor Beckenhauer Construction of Norfolk.

The hope always is to stay a little ahead of schedule.

“But that doesn’t mean we’re going to kick our heels up and enjoy the sunshine for the rest of the summer,” he said. “We’re going to try to keep trucking through because in construction something always happens, whether it’s weather, product delays, manpower shortages. Something always happens. Whenever we can get ahead we do, so that when we need to deal with a slowdown we have room to pivot.”

Adams County voters approved in November 2020 a bond issue not to exceed $38 million for a justice center that would include a 168-bed jail as well as courtrooms and office space for county offices involved in court proceedings.

Increases in material costs caused the price tag for the project to spike. By July 2021, project estimates were around $51 million.

The scope of the project was scaled back to a 156-bed jail, and the justice center components were eliminated.

The 11-acre project site near M Street and U.S. Highway 281, on the south edge of Hastings, will allow for future expansions if needed.

The guests of honor toured the building and watched a large crane place the panel. Construction workers also placed a small tree and an American flag on the roof as part of the “topping off.”

The practice of topping out a new building can be traced to the ancient Scandinavian religious rite of placing a tree atop a new building to appease the tree-dwelling spirits displaced in its construction.

The ceremony since has come to mean more generally finishing the structure of the building.

Beran said the occasion represents the fruition of collaboration, including the citizens committee that helped shape the project, architecture firm Prochaska and Associates and Beckenhauer as well as the subcontractors.

“With all that planning and cohesion we were able to come up with a plan that actually enabled us to shave months off the schedule by designing with construction in mind so that we could bring you guys your project sooner,” he said.

Project officials hope to have the building completely enclosed around the end of October with an estimated completion in fall of 2023.

“I know the farmers aren’t going to like hearing it, but the drought conditions we’ve had this summer have been really good for construction,” Beran said. “When a job site like this gets wet it can take multiple days to dry out and that holds everything up.”

County officials were pleased with the progress so far.

“I couldn’t be happier with where it’s at,” County Board Chairman Lee Hogan said. “I think they’re doing a great job. Frankly, they’re further along than I thought they’d be.”

County Attorney Donna Fegler-Daiss said it will be great to no longer have to send Adams County prisoners to jails in other counties.

Hogan, Fegler-Daiss and Sheriff John Rust are among the committee meeting with contractors every other week.

“They do a really good job of keeping us on material and if there is any delays in the progress,” Rust said. “They’ve done very good.”

He appreciated the significance of Monday.

“It’s called a milestone ceremony, and that’s what it is,” he said. “It’s a milestone that got to this point, and things are moving in the right direction.”

The property that eventually will hold the planned new Adams County jail will be annexed into the corporate limits of the city of Hastings.

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