Commissioners Approve $238K To Replace Chiller, Compressor At Justice Building
Commissioners Approve $238K To Replace Chiller, Compressor At Justice Building
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Commissioners Approve $238K To Replace Chiller, Compressor At Justice BuildingA number of expenditures and bids were approved Tuesday by the Kosciusko County commissioners.
The largest was for the replacement of a chiller for the Justice Building.
County Administrator Marsha McSherry reminded the commissioners they previously approved the bid for replacing three compressors in the chillers in the Justice Building. “Due to the cost of the compressors, we decided to put that on hold and allow us to look at replacing a chiller and one compressor,” she said.
McSherry said they asked for four estimates, but two didn’t respond timely. The two estimates that came correctly in were $240,000 from Building Temperature Solutions and $238,452 from Core Mechanical Services. The costs include the installation of the package chiller as well as the installation of the chiller and compressor.
Commissioner Brad Jackson asked if it was an emergency because of the lead time on the chiller. McSherry said the lead time on the shipping and installation was probably one to two weeks, but there was another lead time of 12 to 14 weeks for the chiller itself.
Bob Conley, commissioner, said the key was to get a jump start on the chiller so when the weather starts getting hotter the jail can still cool. He made a motion to accept the estimate from Core Mechanical, which was approved.
Cary Groninger, commissioner, said all four compressors went out in the last year. He said they started out just looking at the costs of replacing just the compressors versus the whole chilling, but long term it was decided the better deal was to replace the lead compressor and one complete chiller versus just the compressors.
Another pair of estimates were for the remodel of the human resources and county administrator’s office, to split that into two separate offices. McSherry said the estimates were $30,350 from Robinson Construction and $35,651 from Clint Davis Construction. The commissioners approved the low bid from Robinson Construction.
McSherry also presented two estimates to replace broken glass at the county jail. The first estimate was from Crowder Detention for $15,185 for 1-inch-thick GNx glass clad poly, and the second was for $22,535.35 from the Glass Doctor for safety glass laminate. The commissioners approved the low bid from Crowder.
Conley noted there was about a $7,000 difference between the two bids and asked if they were comparing “apples to apples.” McSherry confirmed they were.
Highway Superintendent Steve Moriarty reminded the commissioners that about two weeks ago bids were opened for two trucks and truck bodies. He recommended the bid from Truck Center for $206,271 for the trucks and the bid from W.A. Jones for $145,963 for the truck bodies. The recommendations were unanimously approved.
Moriarty noted he chose not to make any trade-ins with the bids because they can still use parts off the trucks to help the fleet.
Community Corrections Director Barry Andrew approached the commissioners on behalf of Circuit Court Judge Mike Reed.
“He applied for a justice grant, it’s called the Justice Partner Addiction Response Grant, to the Supreme Court last year. And was awarded that grant for $60,000 for 2019,” Andrew said.
Time got away from Reed, Andrew said, and the grant needs to be applied for again this year. It’s due March 16.
“So I’m just here on his behalf asking for permission to apply for that grant. It’s going to be another $60,000 application,” Andrew said, noting that this year the money was spent on travel for Drug Court (about $32,000) and the remainder is being spent as a last resort to help people pay for treatment for their addictions.
This year’s application will request the same amount for the same two areas, he said.
The grant application request will go before the county council at its March 12 meeting for final approval.
Groninger asked, “So this is money that was actually approved last year, he just didn’t get it spent, so it’s kind of like reapplying for that grant or (what)?”
Andrew said yes, and the rest of the 2019 grant will be spent this year at the Drug Court conference and helping Drug Court participants pay for treatment.
The commissioners approved the request.
Sheriff Kyle Dukes requested permission to apply for a $15,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for the sheriff’s office marine patrol on Lake Wawasee, Syracuse Lake and Tippecanoe Lake. He said they have 15 officers who “perform these duties” and are special deputies. The grant will go toward maintenance of the boats, personal watercrafts, fuel and salaries. The marine patrol deputies make $12 per hour. The commissioners approved the grant application.
County Auditor Michelle Puckett presented the commissioners with an ordinance to re-establish the Cumulative Capital Development Fund rate.
“Each year, our CCD rate is adjusted down through the tax rate process, and this allows us to bring it to the level where it was originally approved,” she said.
Groninger asked Puckett why the rate rolls down.
“In the calculation of this rate, they take our assessed value, our budgets. They go out four decimal places, so when they’re dividing everything, they usually go down whole decimal places,” Puckett said.
In the past, she said the county went eight years without bringing the rate back in line with where it originally was approved, and that makes a “huge” difference.
Now, Puckett said, the county addresses the rate on an annual basis.
“So it’s not really a rate change, it’s just back to where it originally was,” Groninger said, and Puckett agreed.
In one other piece of business, the commissioners approved a letter of support for the Center Lake Commons Project.
Groninger said, “Pretty much that’s the Commons Project that’s the multi-use building down there at the end of Buffalo Street. It’s just showing the support of the county commissioners stating that we’re in favor of that.” He made a motion to approve the letter, which was passed.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer thanked the commissioners for their vote of support for the Commons Project.
“I think the developer (Dave Matthews) is applying for tax credits to help with the financing of that, and that’s essentially what that letter will do. Appreciate it,” he said, adding that the city wrote a letter of support, too.
The next commissioners meeting is at 9 a.m. March 17 in the old county courthouse courtroom.
