The 400-plus windows for the Cole County Courthouse and Courthouse Annex started arriving Monday.
Last August, the County Commission received three bids for the replacement project, and in November the commission awarded the contract to The Wilson Group of Greenwood, which had the low bid of $861,405.
The other bids were from Wisch and Vaughn Construction and GBH Builders.
The greatest cost is to replace 99 windows at the courthouse due to incorrect installation and leakage. The cost had been estimated as high as $775,000.
Replacing windows at the annex was estimated at $250,000.
To pay for the work, $278,355 will come from reserves in the county's general fund. The rest of the cost will use up the $583,000 in a receivership fund. Former Cole County Circuit Judge Tom Brown transferred the fund to the commission about eight years ago. It consists of money from untraceable owners' utility refunds in PSC rate challenge cases.
The county applied for grant funding to help pay the replacement but was turned down.
The courts have offered to help with the costs for the courthouse windows, and the schedule to replace those windows will have to go along with court schedules.
Measuring and ordering the windows started in March.
The window installation is to be completed no later than Oct. 31.
"The courthouse windows were put in back in the mid-1970s, from what we've been able to find out," said Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman. "It's hard to believe it's taken all these years to determine that those windows were put in wrong, and that's caused these water problems.
"We'll definitely be looking more closely at the installation of these windows when they're put in."