ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the finale in a series of three stories regarding a special meeting hosted by the Seward County Commission to finalize a plan for money the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act. This story talks about plans for $40,000 the county had left over after approving projects for usage of the rest of the money.
With nearly $1.6 million approved for projects, including $425,000 approved earlier in the meeting, and $48,700 approved for employee bonuses, the Seward County Commission next turned its attention to how to spend the just more than $40,000 remaining from the $4.16 million the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Some commissioners suggested putting additional money into the county’s EMS facility, and later in the meeting, the board unanimously approved $20,000 to go to that project.
Administrator April Warden said that money will go to projects not already earmarked in the already approved funding for EMS.
“We did not put any furniture in there,” she said. “That is just for the building itself – your bay floors, your bay shelving, the paint and the carpet and flooring, no upgrades to the exterior and no furtniture.”
Warden said the money could likewise be used for landscaping at the Seward County Courthouse, and she explained what the money already targeted would be used for at the EMS facility.
“That was back when we paid for all of the architectural drawings and decided not to move forward,” she said. “If you decided you had money at the end, you do have a project on the books for that.”
Commissioner Steve Helm said work on the exterior part of the EMS building is also important.
“I just think it’s important we not only have a clean and updated facility inside, but for the outside to look good too,” he said.
Work done with the $20,000 would include painting, sidewalks, flowers and the removal of a tree on the property.
Later, work on the Seward County Courthouse was revisited, and County Contract Consultant Neil Coffey said while $1.16 million was intially targeted for that project, that number will likely be significantly lower.
“I think we’ll see $30,000 to $40,000 of that go into the yard,” he said. “We’ve got another $8,000 on the concrete to fill that gap. I don’t think we’ll use even half of that $1,160,000. I would say that total project will come in at about $780,000.”
Coffey said, though, it is not known how much landscaping sprinkler work will need to be done before the courthouse is completely done.
“The landscaping plan will be at the desire of whatever landscaping committee you appoint and whatever they decide to put in with your approval,” he said.
Also included in the courthouse work was $8,300 for a concrete strip with two drains and a sewer line. Coffey said if money is left over from the project, there are other uses for the remaining balance.
“That gives you some flexibility as you have these other projects already set up,” he said. “With you holding the range of control as it relates to the change orders, you steer your own ship with that.”
Coffey said the biggest remaining parts of the courthouse project are Courtroom C, the judges chambers for that courtroom and the law library.
With the actual cost of the courthouse work still up in the air, Helm suggested some of the remaining money go to replacing thermostats in county buildings to make the county more energy efficient.
“Six or seven years ago, $2.5 million was borrowed under a lease payment,” he said. “Payments are ongoing and will be onging of several more years for that project that was supposed to be sold as not a cost to the taxpayers. That would be paid for by trackable energy.”
However, Helm said those energy savings are not being tracked, and plans are not being followed.
“The taxpayers are on the hook for $2.5 million dollars plus interest,” he said. “Energy savings pay for themselves, and if we’ve got some money here, we’re remodeling the courthouse. Some of the biggest energy users are the courthouse, the Admin Building and the jail.”
Warden said she was told tracking had stopped because employees were working weekends, and after calling complaining of being cold or hot, they would shut the air completely off. She added once the air was turned back on, contracts with Willdan and 360 Energy Engineers were made null and void.
Helm asked what could be done to correct the problem in the future.
“The taxpayers are going to be on the hook for $2.5 million,” he said. “Going forward is there something we can do to manage our energy usage in these buildings?”
Helm too said reports from experts said every county building needed updated thermostats, but Commission Chairman Scott Carr urged caution when looking to such projects.
“The administrator from Finney County said they updated the LED, and it was supposed to save them millions,” Carr said. “It didn’t save them a penny. I understnad we do need to fix some of those things, but we need to be careful on others.”
Helm said Willdan and 360 Energy Engineers need to be held accountable for what has happened.
“Someone’s got to hold their feet to the fire,” he said. “Otherwise, the taxpayers are just on the hook for $2.5 million dollars, and I’m saying if we have some of this extra money, let’s put it towards some energy efficient thermostats.”
Warden said the solution involves more than just replacing thermostats.
“That doesn’t fix the problem,” she said. “We’re still on boiler systems. Their recommendation was you replace the boilers. There’s so much that needs to be done to become truly energy efficient. I really have no idea how much it would cost us when you go to updating electrical, plumbing, boiler systems, lighting, thermostats, HVAC units, everything they say needs to be done. I’m being told they don’t even make the controls we have anymore.”
Helm said no documentation showed what the county got for the $2.5 million price tag. Warden said she had planned to address that.
“I would have to go through that with you,” she said. “There was all kinds of stuff.”
Commissioner C.J. Wettstein said the project was given the go ahead at the time by county counsel.
“The attorney OK’d everything we did,” he said. “Therefore, maybe if they’re not performing and we’re not getting the performance, maybe our attorney needs to be suing them, and that’s a decision you guys will have to make.”
Warden said part of the work had to be done.
“We needed new HVAC systems,” she said. “We needed the stuff that was done in the jail. We were going through commercial hot water tanks because of the buildup being so bad. We put in a water softening system there. They put in things to stop the flow where the inmates couldn’t flush the toilets over and over and over again. Showers shut off after a certain amount of time so they couldn’t just leave the shower water running. There were a lot of things that were done to try to be energy efficient.”
Warden said savings could be track through what the county has paid in utility bills in recent years.
“They stopped tracking it because they said you were changing the thermostats,” she said. “You were letting people use space heaters. You were letting people use fans.”
Warden said efforts have been made to try to reduce energy usage.
“We do make sure people turn lights out,” she said. “We’ve put in the lights where they automatically go out after so long to try to save on that. It’s not that we’re not doing anything.”
Commissioner Presephoni Fuller said if lawsuits are considered, so too must be statutes of limitation.
“I don’t know when this document was signed, but we have to factor in the human element,” she said. “If you are trying to do energy conservation and people are not adhering to what you’re asking, that’s impossible for you to track.”
Fuller said while she was unsure of the statute of limitations, but safety is a top priority going forward.
“Let’s enforce energy efficiency as much and as often as we can and see how we can save money, but today, our purpose is to approve ARPA funds,” she said.
