Construction on Williston's new Northwest Youth Assessment Center is under way and the new building is to be completed and open for use by the end of the year.

Marsha Hughes, NWYAC administrator, said last week that construction should be completed by mid-December and they should be able to begin operations at that time.

"We had a meeting yesterday and everything is on schedule. The building itself will be ready by mid-December; the landscaping by the middle of spring," said Hughes.

Several contracts for various portions of the construction were approved within the past month.

On Oct. 1, the Williams County Commission approved bids for the general contract and the electrical contract during a special meeting. The general contract went to Ebenal General Inc., of Bellingham, Wash., for $490,000. The electrical contract was awarded to Triangle Electric of Williston for $18,500. At the Oct. 6 commission meeting, the mechanical contract was awarded to Selid Plumbing & Heating Inc. of Williston for around $80,000. The Selid contract was originally listed at just over $114,000 on Oct. 1.

Awarding the Selid contract was delayed at first because of the price and the thought maybe the commission could solicit other bids. Once it further spoke with Selid representatives and got a reduction in the price, the commission decided to approve it so the project could continue to move forward.

Hughes said once the building is completed, they should be able to move in right away.

"We're still going to be licensed to operate 11 beds at the facility. Five staff members and myself will be working there," said Hughes.

Hughes added some work is still being done to get the menu approved for the new kitchen, but she said this shouldn't be a problem.

One other item for the building that was recently completed is the contract for the facility's security system. Hughes said the county awarded the security contract to Ebel Integrators of Williston for $52,896.

"It has a lot better camera system. The kids won't have to have so many lights on while they sleep," said Hughes.

Hughes added it was a bit of an issue having more lights on when the youth are sleeping because it is difficult to monitor them adequately on the cameras. She said the higher-quality cameras solve this issue.

She also said the project is moving along very swiftly as it has an aggressive timeline to get it completed before the end of the year. She looks forward to having the project completed.

"As far as I know everything's on schedule at this point," said Hughes.