A $1.3 million project to rehabilitate an aging roof and HVAC system in one of Carbon County’s buildings is slated to begin Monday.

On Thursday, Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein announced that the upper parking lot, located behind the county administration building in Jim Thorpe, will be closed to parking due to it becoming a staging area for the roof and HVAC construction.

Carbon awarded the contract for the administration building project to Weatherproofing Technologies Inc. of Beachwood, Ohio, in November at a cost of $1,388,706.20.

The project had been scaled back from a complete renovation that would have cost an estimated $3 million to just the necessities.

The roof has several leaks and the HVAC system doesn’t work as efficiently as it should.

The board said doing these two projects together will save time overall because both needed to be replaced.

The project will also include collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation because part of Route 209 will need to be shut down at times to bring in materials.

The anticipated completion date is by the end of June.

Visitors who have county business should park in the main parking lot, located across the street from the administration building.

In other construction matters, the elevator in the administration building has been out of service since September.

In October, the county awarded a $95,696 contract with Schindler Elevator Corporation to make the repairs.

The equipment was supposed to delivered within 35 days from the proposal acceptance, which was Oct. 21, but that deadline has long since passed.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner said that the company said the parts had been delayed but were supposed to be in this week.

The contract expires at the end of March.

Ahner said that the county plans to hold contractors responsible for meeting the dates set in contracts.

Once the project begins, the company estimates it should take six days to complete.