State officials sounded more than a little nervous Tuesday about whether the state Capitol will be ready for the rededication ceremony scheduled on Jan. 4 to show off the more than $200 million spent on renovations.
"Unless you've got a little fairy dust around here someplace — there's a lot of dust around here, but no fairy dust — I don't know how you can get it done," Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert said during a meeting Tuesday of the Capitol Preservation Board held in the 92-year-old building.
David Hart, executive director of the board overseeing the massive project that began some four years ago, tried to sound reassuring even as workers scurried just outside the meeting room with paint cans, buckets of cleaning solvent and power tools.
"Things are getting done," Hart said, noting some 60 electricians each worked about 100 hours last week alone and advising patience. "It's not perfect. There are going to be glitches."
For example, the meeting room near the rotunda didn't have any power last week and some outlets still weren't working Tuesday — nor was the wireless connection to the Internet. Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said parts of the new Senate chambers are overheating and threatening to damage some of the newly installed technology.
Hart said one of his biggest worries was waiting for the specially woven fabric for the walls of the governor's office and the adjacent ceremonial Gold Room to arrive from overseas. The fancy fabric is now in California, he said, meaning there's just enough time to install it and then finish the floors so rugs and furniture can be moved into the rooms.
Everything that can be done is being done, Hart said, to ensure the project is finished before the grand ceremony that will feature everyone from state dignitaries to fourth-grade bell-ringers in rural Utah performing via satellite.
But Herbert still sounded anxious.
"I hope the construction workers understand the sense of urgency," the lieutenant governor said, adding that while he appreciated their extra effort, "as I walk through today, it just gives me a little bit of a nervous stomach."
He ended the meeting by saying it was time for Hart to get "back out there with his bullwhip."
The Capitol has been closed to the public since August 2004 so the stately building could be retrofitted with a series of "shock absorbers" designed to withstand an earthquake. There were also cosmetic changes that include restoring rooms like the governor's office to their original grandeur as well as modernizing everything from fire alarms to technology hook-ups.
It will be open to the public for an open house from Jan. 5-12. The 2008 Legislature will convene in the Capitol on Jan. 21, the first time lawmakers will have met in the building since 2004, and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. will deliver his State of the State address in the House Chambers on Jan. 22, in what will be his first such speech in the Capitol.
There was little interest among board members Tuesday in taking on another major project at the Capitol Complex. They listened politely to Hart's pitch for a $98 million replacement for the State Office Building but took no action.
Both Valentine and Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, said lawmakers aren't interested in spending that kind of money on the building next session. "It's not ripe yet for the 2008 session," Valentine said. Instead, board members suggested Hart request some planning funds for the proposed building, which would be three stories high and designed to look like the new east and west buildings on the complex. Huntsman did not include the proposed building in his budget, either.
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