AUBURN — The four-story Androscoggin County Building, the county’s headquarters since the Civil War, is about to get a checkup.

On Friday, county leaders plan to meet with potential bidders on a top-to-bottom analysis of the downtown Auburn structure.

By the middle of November, the county hopes to appoint a building committee to work with the winning bidder.

The aim: to plan and implement the grand building’s rebirth.

The work is about a month behind schedule, in part because of insistence by the three-member commission that the work go beyond merely writing a study. They have been written before and little was done.

“We were looking for something more than to put it on a shelf and say, ‘This is our plan,'” said Randall Greenwood, chairman of the commission.

A five-page request for bids was issued last month. Beyond the study, commissioners want the winning firm to shepherd the county through the creation of a master plan that might phase in building improvements and explore new ways to pay for the work. The commissioners also want help in permitting the project.

The need is critical, Greenwood said.

Prior commissions deferred maintenance. Buildingwide systems — electrical, heating and plumbing — are barely operating. There is almost no hot water. Many offices are crowded. Parts of the roof leak.

The building houses the Androscoggin County Superior Court, the District Attorney’s Office, the registers of deeds and probate, the Sheriff’s Department and county administration.

“The building is deteriorating,” Greenwood said. And it is costing more and more money just to keep up.

On Wednesday, Greenwood opposed a plan to spend more than $240,000 next year on improvements, saying he would rather wait for the building’s plan.

“I can’t spend $240,000 for a Band-Aid when the patient is about to go into surgery,” he said.

County Clerk Patricia Fournier plans to lead the meeting with potential bidders, explaining the full scope of the project.

Sealed bids are due Nov. 1.

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