Commissioners hear update on Courthouse HVAC

DAYTON-The Columbia County Board of Commissioners were updated on the Courthouse HVAC project and other budgetary information during the November 15 meeting.

Maintenance Manager David Finney reported on the funding possibilities of the HVAC project for the courthouse after inquiring if it is qualified use of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Generally, HVAC is an approved use because it improves ventilation. However, the County has been approved for an Architectural Historical Preservation grant of $126,200 also for the Courthouse and the exterior cannot be altered to accommodate venting. Finney told the Commissioners that Senate Bill 3011 which already passed in the House and is expected to pass in the Senate would reduce restrictions on use of funds which would qualify the project.

Finney presented two options to the Commission. One was to move forward in good faith that ARPA funds would be allowable to spend on the HVAC project design adhering to the Architectural Historical Preservation guidelines and not adding the outside vents that would compromise the historical integrity of the building. If they went this route, money may have to be paid back, but ARPA funds could be used towards other expenses and then funds can be pulled from the current expense budget. The project can't be delayed due to increasing costs and it is a high priority project. The other option Finney provided was the use of a product called Synexis which uses air scrubbing technology by putting bio-defense units into most or all of the registers. When the units run, they change water into hydrogen peroxide which cleans the air and surfaces of mold, fungus, odors and viruses. The addition of this system to the over $400,000 HVAC project would make the project allowable for ARPA funds but would add $120,000 and about $12,000 yearly for cartridges for the units. Finney suggested incorporating the system into the design and the Commissioners were in favor of this idea including to use funds to stock up on several years' worth of cartridges. The project budget will be approved when the design is completed with the air scrubbing system addition.

Commissioner Ryan Rundell briefly discussed the need of a Human Resources department for the County. He said that he plans to inquire into the possibility of contracting with an external company that Columbia County Transportation uses to provide for some of those services. County Prosecutor Dale Slack spoke up to say, "Anne [Higgins, Auditor], Amber [Phinney, Public Works Business Manager] and I are really interested."

Public Works Director Charles Eaton presented the last of the preliminary budgets for the department. He began with County Road and reported the ending fund balance is well below the target of $700,000 at $287,644. He said this wouldn't affect the "construction projects budget because most of those are 100% funded or 87.5% funded, so it would be very little County money that would roll forward. So that's the only thing that's really concerning to me with this at all is the size of the ending fund balance is a little small. We think that we average about $300,000 a month - employees, equipment, everything else - that's about a one-month push." Commissioner Marty Hall agreed, "That's a pretty scary number." The Commissioners decided to delay $113,000 in work on King Grade Bridge and keep it to a one lane bridge for a year to help the budget, but hesitated to delay other work and fall behind. The project could be added back into the budget through an amendment if money comes in from FEMA.

The Emergency Rental and Revolving (ER&R) budget was also presented. Eaton said the budget will have $590,000 cash carry forward and $1.1 million in revenues with expenditures totaling $1.1 million leaving the ending cash balance in the reserve.

The next BOCC meeting is Tuesday, November 30 at 9 a.m.