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New county highway building may include various county departments |
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Initial ideas for the new highway department building the county is planning to construct on a 22.5 acre tract of land on the west edge of Caledonia were discussed during the April 8 Houston County Board meeting. According to the initial plans, the county’s Highway Department wouldn’t be the only county entity in the new facility.
County Highway Engineer Marcus Evans stated the building committee has recommended a number of county departments be located in the proposed facility. They included the Highway Department, the Planning and Zoning Department, Surveyor’s Office, Environmental Services Department, GIS Department, the Drivers License Bureau, the county’s sign shop, a vehicle maintenance bay and secured office for the Sheriff’s Department, and possibly the Extension Office.
“So far this is just in the discussion stage,” Evans told the board. “But the committee feels because these departments do work together on various projects, it would make sense to have them all under one roof.”
Tom Molling of the County Highway Department explained that his department currently conducts the majority of the maintenance work on many of the county’s fleet of vehicles, but could also include the Sheriff’s Department vehicles as well.
“It would be great to have all of our maintenance work done by county staff,” Sheriff Doug Ely said. “We would be able to schedule maintenance work on all of our vehicles without worrying if an outside agency would have time to fit us in when it’s convenient for them.”
Commissioner Dave Corcoran felt a wash bay should be included in the new facility so that all county vehicles could be washed and better maintained.
Molling pointed out that another county mechanic would be needed to handle the additional work.
“Would this be cost effective, verses continuing to handle our maintenance issues the way we currently do?” Commissioner Tom Bjerke asked.
Molling estimated the county has approximately 350 oil changes per year done on county vehicles, including about 160 oil changes per year on law enforcement vehicles.
“When you figure oil changes, rotating tires, and all the other maintenance issues on that many vehicles, yes, I feel the county would realize a substantial savings,” Molling replied.
“And when you figure we’d have all of our vehicles given the once over when they’re in for service work, verses just changing the oil and out of the garage they go, I feel this would be a major benefit to our squad cars,” Ely added.
It was also pointed out by having the License Bureau included in the new facility persons taking CDL licenses would be able to park their semis in the larger parking lot, instead of in the downtown area. And persons taking their driving tests for motorcycles could take the test in the parking lot as well.
When reviewing the various departments that would be moved from the court house, Commissioner Ann Thompson asked if including the Planning and Zoning really made sense.
“Wouldn’t it be a more workable situation to leave P&Z in the court house with all the accessing of records?” Thompson said.
Planning and Zoning Administrator Bob Scanlan didn’t feel it would be a problem with the new technology and being able to access everything via the Internet.
“When looking at these recommendations, it appears as if a number of departments would be moved from the court house, which would free up more space,” Thompson said. “I wonder how that might impact the current plans we have for the CJC (the proposed criminal justice center)? We might not need as much space in the CJC as we originally thought.”
“I like the recommendations the committee has come up with, but I’d like to see some sketches of what this might look like. That way we can determine what we would need and what we wouldn’t need for the CJC,” Commissioner Larry Connery said.
Evans reminded the board these are just preliminary recommendations and wanted to get a feeling from the county board the direction the committee should take. The general consensus of the board was for the planning committee to proceed and have some sketches drawn up.
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