|
County moving forward on furniture building project
|
|
|
By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Houston County is moving forward with relocating several departments in the Meyer Furniture Store building at 611 Vista Drive in Caledonia. At the Oct. 21 meeting, County Financial Director Casey Bradley announced the agreement to purchase the building was finalized Oct. 17.
The county board agreed to enter into a purchase agreement with Dale Meyer for his furniture store building on Highways 76 and 44 in September. Meyer, who has health issues, has been holding a going out of business sale.
The purchase price is $235,000 and the county will take over ownership Jan. 1, 2009.
The county plans to move the Extension Office, the Veteran’s Service Department, and Public Health Nursing Department into the Meyer building. The county is paying $1,209 per month to lease the building the Extension Office is currently located in. The county will save over $14,500 per year by relocating the Extension Office into the Meyer building.
Communicating is expensive
Bradley told the board providing highspeed Internet service to the Meyer building will be an expensive endeavor. After discussing the issue with the county’s IT Department and representatives from Ace Communications, the board had several proposals to choose from.
Ace offered a three-year contract with no up front costs and a monthly payment of $2,335, which comes out to $84,060 for the term of the three years. A second alternative is a five-year contract with no up front costs at $1,990 per month, which would be $119,400 over five years. The third alternative would include a $33,000 up front payment and monthly payments of $1,440, which also translates to $119,400 over five years.
Bradley recommended the county go with the third option. He felt the $1,440 per month payment would be easier to budget than $1,990 per month. By going with the five-year contract, the county would be able to lock in the monthly rate for five years.
A motion was made by Commissioner Dave Corcoran and seconded by Commissioner Larry Connery to approve the third option with the $33,000 up front payment. It was unanimously approved.
Corcoran noted that the technical improvements the board was approving could also be utilized down the road by the Soil and Water Conservation Department, and possibly by the Highway Department if a new facility is built on the northern edge of Caledonia.
In other board action:
Highway engineer hired
Just a week after the board had approved Brian Pogodzinski to serve as the interim County Engineer, commissioners decided not to continue the search for a permanent replacement for outgoing County Engineer Marcus Evans, but promote Pogodzinski instead.
Pogodzinski was originally hired in August as an engineering supervisor. He was promoted to interim County Engineer when Evans resigned in September, and was to serve at that capacity until a permanent County Engineer could be found. Pogodzinski indicated he was interested in the permanent position and was interviewed by the search committee the third week in October.
“The search committee interviewed Brian for the position, and feel he is an excellent candidate for the job,” County Personnel Director Tim Comstock said.
“I feel Brian has a broad experience, feel comfortable with him, and feel we really don’t need to look any further,” Corcoran added.
“I have also talked with Brian and think Houston County is very fortunate to have someone of Brian’s caliber already working for us. I feel we would be the right fit,” pointed out Commissioner Tom Bjerke.
A motion by Corcoran and seconded by Connery to offer the County Engineer’s position to Pogodzinski was unanimously approved. Pogodzinski will serve a probationary position until April 1, 2009. At that time the county board can offer him a four-year contract.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
