Union County officials are working through the process of looking over their capital projects plan and what facility needs might look like in the coming years.
At the recent county commissioners meeting, Dan Schall with Bradley Payne, an advisory firm out of Columbus, discussed the group’s plan for approaching building projects, updates and costs.
Assistant County Administrator Letitia Rayl, who also operates as the county’s budget officer, said a main priority is the court offices, but several things may be on the table.
“Our major concern comes with court offices and the courthouse itself,” she said. “With it being a historic building, obviously there are limitations to what we can do and we want to protect that.”
She said as the court grows, a need for more space comes with it but exactly what that might entail, “comes from those department discussions” and will eventually end up in the final review.
“The courthouse building is what it is, so any growth would have to take that into consideration, but we may look at offices and other places that could change,” Rayl said. “Security is always an issue but also simple maintenance things like how to heat it. That building is operating on an old boiler system so there are just all kinds of things to consider.”
Using a three-year average, the county spends nearly $54,000 on utilities for the building and nearly $82,000 for maintenance and repairs.
In recent years, there have been several remodeling and restoration projects, including the basement and second-floor bathroom work, the basement-to-first floor staircase restoration and changing the lights on the clock tower to LED.
Rayl said there are several projects pending with accompanying cost estimates.
Though the boiler system upgrades are listed as unknown, estimates show HVAC efficiency upgrades with a potential $43,000 price tag. The building could also see parking lot maintenance at $50,000 and elevator upgrades at $300,000.
Larger restoration projects include window replacements, stone steps and lower-level entrances at an estimated $900,000.
Schall said the firm has worked on meeting with all budget managers and department officials to see all needs countywide. The next steps are to talk with commissioners individually, present that information and then have the presentation of the full plan in November.
He said he talked with all departments and got a sense of what each needed looking ahead over the next 10 years.
“Back when you engaged us to come in and help with this, I talked with several of you and the overview here is you wanted a collaborative look at what we would need in capital expenditures over the next 10 years,” Schall said. “So there has been a lot of conversation about what are the maintenance needs, what are the building needs, who is going where, what’s changing and what’s moving. We were engaged to come in and get a look at that and organize all that.”
He said, primarily, the firm looked at what the county is doing with its capital money and how financing would work should the county deicide to move forward with larger projects.
The county worked with architect Tom Potts to do a space study of county buildings and Rayl said that, combined with the financial advise from Bradley Payne, will give a better picture of what could be done.
“There are some things that need further assessment that we’re still getting information on how much they’re going to cost,” Schall said. “We know the need has been identified or the vision has been identified for those things but we need more information on how that’s really going to cost to the county if we go on with that.”
The county listed $2.9 million in capital improvement revenue for 2022 and projected $1.7 million for this year.
Last year, officials listed $9.9 million in capital improvement cash.