Commissioners seek quotes for courthouse air conditioning repair
By Debbie Lowe Staff writer

The courthouse custodians were ready to begin the task of replacing the air conditioning chiller and one condensing unit after the Monday morning Carroll County Commissioners' meeting. All they needed was the blessing of the county leaders to begin the process. However, in the end, the commissioners decided a lack of partial, or all, air conditioning in the courthouse did not constitute a spring emergency.

It was discovered on March 22 the chiller lost its freon and pipes in one condenser froze and burst last winter, making the unit inoperable. A contractor, who has done a significant amount of work at the courthouse, was called in for an assessment. It was learned from the assessment the amount of money to fix the problem would be significant.

County attorney Barry Emerson advised commissioners they could "proclaim the situation as an emergency" and proceed with the needed repairs and replacement immediately. Or additional quotes for the work could be solicited, thereby delaying the repair.

Custodian Sheryl Shockley said that if work began immediately, the project would not be completed and air would not be flowing until the end of May or June.

"Has the courthouse always been air conditioned?" asked county resident Dale Pullen. "I don't consider this an emergency," he said.

Commissioners agreed with Pullen. The custodians were directed to solicit at least two additional quotes for the work and make a recommendation at the next commissioners' meeting.

Shockley also reported the courthouse monument needs significant work. She said there was approximately $7,000 in the budget from appropriations and encumbrances for the project. She was directed to begin the process to repair the structure.

Highway department

The need to enforce load limits on county roads became a discussion topic as highway supervisor Ramzi Awwad fielded questions about roads that have suffered significant damage due to overloaded trucks. Commissioners will invite sheriff Tony Burns to the next commissioners' meeting to further investigate how load limits could be enforced by his deputies.

A bid for $77,750 from Village Blacksmith Ironworks for steel truss repair and one for $54,100 for sub-structure repair of Bridge #87 were accepted.

Bids for $8,175 from Central Paving for deck overlay and one for $97,000 from Eagle Painting were accepted for the same project.

All bids for Bridge #129 were rejected due to inability to secure necessary funding.

Council finance committee

Council member Steve Ashby appeared on behalf of the committee to request commissioners' cooperation to correct what appears to be fiscal issues in the county reserve account.

"We need to get on top of this. We're not putting any blame on anyone, but we need to fix the problem," Ashby said.

Ashby said the committee wanted to meet with department heads to discuss steps that could be taken for each department to reduce spending. He said committee members needed commissioners to approve of that activity and solicited a representative from the commissioners to work with the committee.

Commissioner Bill Brown volunteered to be the representative. He said he was the logical choice because he serves on the county finance committee.

Other business

Commissioners re-zoned land on US421 just south of Lake Freeman from Lake Resort 1 to Business 1.

Kevin Sims, representing BridgeView Condominiums, said his group had "some concerns" about the project but was "pro development" and was "thrilled to have anything along US421 that would help development."

"This is a gain for the taxpayers of the county," Brown said. "We need to have faith the people are going to do a good job with the property."

Delphi Business Women will use the lounge and museum April 23.

HotDiggityDogs will use courthouse grounds from the end of April through the summer of 2007.

VFW Ladies Auxilary will have a sign on the courthouse lawn April 9-21.

An agreement was signed with Purdue Extension for contractual services.

An application to Carroll Manor for Joseph O. Slate was approved.

Payroll claims for $185,912.29, highway claims for $115,591.99 and county operating claims for $321,329.73 were approved.

The next commissioners' meeting will be an evening meeting on April 16 at 6.

Drainage Board

Rain and other weather-related issues hampered Carroll County Surveyor Wayne Chapman and workers in their attempt to work on drains and fix problems in March.

Chapman reported his office received approximately eight work orders through last month and five more just last Friday.

Work in Burlington, Madison, Clay and Jackson townships is planned. Chapman said he checked drains and waterways for beaver dams and weedy growths last month.

Proposed dairy

Chapman announced a meeting was set with Northpoint Engineering about the proposed dairy in Democrat Township for 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 4. He invited commissioners to attend the meeting, which will be held in the surveyor's office.

"Hopefully this will give us some information about what they plan on doing," Chapman said.

The next drainage board meeting will be May 7 at 8:30 a.m.