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County board reviews floor plans for new office building
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
The Houston County Board got a chance to see what the inside of the new county office building may look like during the Tuesday, Nov. 18 board meeting. County Financial Director Casey Bradley presented the board with a floor plan of the Meyer Furniture Store building, which the county has purchased and will be converting into office space for a number of county departments.
According to the plans, the main portion of the main floor of the building located on Highway 44 and 76, just west of Subway Sandwiches, will be taken up by the Public Health Nursing Department. That portion of the building will include 15 offices, a reception area, several patient care rooms, two WIC rooms, two nursing cubicles, a conference room, and two bathrooms.
The Extension Department, and Veteran’s Service will be located in the east wing of the building, and will include three offices for Extension, two for Veteran’s Services, and a large open area that can be used for meetings and/or developed into something else down the road.
The basement level will include an employee break room, two restrooms, an IT/communications room, a sealed court records storage room and a large unfinished record storage area.
Bradley plans to utilize Sentence to Serve crews to help with the demolition of the existing ceiling, putting up the new stud walls, as well as other work to help reduce the costs involved in converting the building from a furniture store to an office building. He added it will take between 130 to 160 days to complete the remodeling project.
In other board action:
SWCD mitigation grant
Root River Soil and Water Conservation District Director Ralph Tuck requested the county board support a hazard mitigation grant application.
Tuck outlined the $1,000,000 proposal, which will be designed to reduce the amount of flooding that occurred during the 2007 floods.
“The plan is to install flood water retention structures throughout the Winnebago watershed with a goal of 46 percent of the watershed being controlled,” Tuck stated.
The application will be submitted to Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) which administers the program. Fifteen percent of federal disaster assistance funds are available for disaster mitigation.
The proposal must meet benefit/cost analysis in order to receive federal funds. If funded, the project will install eight to ten flood control structures in the Winnebago watershed, similar to the Crooked Creek watershed structures installed in the mid-1960’s. One structure may be included in the Crooked Creek watershed.
“You call these structures, but aren’t they really dams?” Commissioner Larry Graf asked.
“They don’t like to use the term ‘dam,’ but for the most part, that’s what they are,” Tuck replied. He added that there may be some terracing and both dry and wet ponds included in the project as well.
Commissioner Tom Bjerke asked if there would be any state funds included with this program. Tuck replied they would be getting some money from state erosion control programs.
Bjerke then asked if any work was planned for the Bee Creek and Duck Creek watersheds, that are located in the southwest portion of the county and flow into Iowa. Those two watersheds were impacted by the 2008 floods.
Tuck responded this program will pretty much focus on the Winnebago watershed. But added that there are other programs that may be available to address those watersheds located in more than one state.
The commissioners unanimously approved a letter of support for the project. HSEM’s decision on the application will be made in 2009.
Insurance dividend
Houston County received an insurance dividend from the Minnesota Counties Insurance Trust (MCIT) in the amount of $95,298. That total consists of $26,261 attributable to the county’s workers’ compensation coverage and $69,037 attributed to the county’s property/casualty coverage.
While the county has been receiving a substantial dividend each year from MCIT, the board of directors cautioned the county that past dividends are no guarantee of future distributions.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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