Looking beyond the demolition

The Davison County commissioners, in a 4-1 vote, tentatively approved a $5,000 plan Tuesday that will allow the Puetz Corporation to develop a preliminary plan for the future use of the Tower Building site.

Time is nearing for demolition of the old Methodist Hospital building. Interested contractors will meet today for a pre-bid conference to discuss project requirements for its removal.

The commission hired Puetz to develop planning options for the site once the old building comes down.

The plan, Commission Chairman David Weitala said, will incorporate space for the community health nursing offices, county maintenance facilities and other to-be-determined uses. Puetz will determine a practical footprint and parking sites, said Weitala, and a possible building layout for the Miller Avenue project.

“Then we’ll take their input and work from there,” Weitala said.

Commissioner Gerald Weiss, who made the motion to go with Puetz’s planning expertise, said he is weary of inaction on the project.

“Over a half a year has gone by and we haven’t done anything yet,” he said.

The plan the commission approved Tuesday gives Puetz authorization to move ahead, pending a legal review of the proposal by Deputy State’s Attorney Jim Taylor. The motion advanced Tuesday also removes a segment of the proposal that would have automatically assigned a construction management contract to Puetz Corporation.

There was disagreement among the commission members regarding how large the potential project should be, or if the county should partner with the city of Mitchell on the project.

Commissioner Jerry Fischer, who cast the lone “no” vote, said the county needs must come first when determining the future use of any new space.

Fischer read a prepared statement that prefaced the commission’s discussion of a “vision” for the future of the space.

Fischer, who titled his commentary “Thoughts, Concerns, Wants and Needs,” spoke against any plans that would reconfigure office space at the courthouse or that would propose construction of a building the county can’t afford.

Fischer said, “Dreams are great; we need them, but in reality it comes down to taxpayer money and budgets.”

Fischer said the county — since it does not have income in the form of sales taxes and enterprise funds — should not build with an eye to renting space in a county-owned building to the city of Mitchell.

“Moving courthouse offices to a new building has caused concern among taxpayers and employees,” Fischer said, “and I agree.”

The possibility of rearranging courthouse space and moving some offices to a new county building has been discussed by a design task force headed up by Commissioner John Claggett and Auditor Susan Kiepke. That group has discussed moving the county Emergency Management Office closer to the Sheriff’s Office, since both deal with public safety functions. The group also discussed moving county veterans’ and welfare offices to the new building.

Veterans Services Officer and Welfare Director Steve McClure said he prefers remaining at the courthouse to be closer to vital records. He asked the commissioners to move his offices to the largely unused fourth floor.

Claggett said it is premature to dismiss any cooperation between the county and city and that the reconfiguring of space was a part of brainstorming sessions to explore possibilities.

“Every person I’ve talked to is in favor of city and county cooperation,” Claggett said.

Weitala also refused to shut the door to county-city cooperation.

“I agree with Jerry’s point that we have to take care of county needs first,” he said, “but we can’t be shortsighted.”

Commissioner Denny Kiner said that Fischer was “on target” about controlling the costs of any new county building.

Also Tuesday, the commissioners:

• Expressed concern that rubble removal costs to a state approved landfill, at $49 a ton, could be a projectbreaker for the Tower Building demolition. They told Ruml to find out if those costs can be lessened by recycling some old materials. Fischer saw no reason materials couldn’t be recycled, since asbestos has already been removed.

• Rejected, at the recommendation of Fischer, all bids for a 155kW emergency generator at the Tower Building as too low.

“I don’t feel we should give it away,” Fischer said. The remaining commissioners were equally dissatisfied with the bids.

The four bids ranged from a low of $1,850 to a high of $7,850. Fischer said similar generators sell for about $15,000 online without the special supply panel and extras being offered by the county. County crews will remove the generator and store it indoors at the county highway shop pending a future decision on its use or disposal. The unit may be used for emergency backup power at the shops.

The commissioners also rejected a single bid of $1,850 for a chiller unit from the old hospital building. The unit comes with two compressors. Similar compressors installed in the past at the courthouse were purchased for $5,000, Ruml said.

• Noted that the county Welfare office will be closed June 16 and 17 so that county Welfare Director Steve McClure and his assistant can attend a welfare training workshop in Pierre.

• Were told by Kiepke that she will speak with Deputy State’s Attorney Jim Taylor regarding clarification on county policy as it pertains to employees on leave who wish to remain on the county health insurance plan. Kiepke said written policy is unclear about whether or not the county should continue paying its portion of premiums for an employee on unpaid leave or if the employee should pay both portions.

• At the request of Sheriff Dave Miles, approved the addition of retired Deputy Mark Vaughan to the county’s part-time deputy list at a rate of $12 an hour. Vaughan will be used only if court security is requested.

• Set a hearing date of 11 a.m. June 1 for a temporary malt beverage license for a June 19 demolition derby celebration at Mount Vernon. The event is the first of two consecutive weekends filled with events to raise money for development of Heroes’ Field, said organizer Kelly Rus, who attended Tuesday’s meeting with Sherri Kayser. Heroes’ Field will be a new athletic complex for Mount Vernon High School. The project, which will honor area military and community heroes, was inspired by the recent death of Navy pilot Lt. Clinton Wermers, who was once a member of the Mount Vernon High School football team.

The demolition derby will be held north of town and will be operated by Demo Productions, a Nebraska company.

• Approved travel expenses for county Emergency Management Director Jim Montgomery to travel to Pierre for a meeting with new state Homeland Security Director James Carpenter. Carpenter, the former director of the state Office of Highway Safety, replaced former state Homeland Security Director Alan Bock.

• During the meeting’s public input segment, heard from landowner George Wilson, who asked that the county complete repairs of County Drain No. 9, which crosses his property south of Mitchell and to the north of Nathan Avenue.

Highway Superintendent Rusty Weinberg said county crews will, on Thursday, begin replacing 15 to 45 feet of broken concrete drain on the property with 15-inch diameter plastic drain pipe. Some areas between Nathan Avenue and Kibbee Ditch further south will also require repairs at some future time, Weinberg said.

Tags: county commission, tower building, news, local