County to use grant funds for fire panel upgrades
Taylor County is looking to use up the remainder of its COVID-era federal grant funds to replace a 23-year old alarm panel at the courthouse.
At last week’s meetings of the buildings and grounds committee on December 14 and the finance and personnel committee on December 15, committee members authorized purchasing a new fire alarm panel with voice audio upgrade at a cost of $185,300.
County finance director Larry Brandl recommended the county apply the $95,000 remaining from the federal American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds to the project and said the remaining costs could be covered through transferring carryover funds from other accounts.
The panel controls the courthouse and jail fire alarm system and has been having issues prompting county buildings and grounds supervisor Joe Svejda to contact Complete Controls about options. At specific issue is a small battery on the panel which maintains its memory.
The battery is original to when the fire alarm system was installed as part of the courthouse expansion project completed in 2000. The estimated cost to just replace the battery is $20 for the battery and the labor to do it. However, according to Jason Decker of Complete Controls, the issue is that the panel is outdated and is no longer in use. He said that if the battery is removed and replaced with a new one, there is a high likelihood that the system would not restart, something they have seen particularly with that model and age of a panel.
Without the control panel, the county would have to maintain a 24-hour fire watch of staff patrolling the courthouse and jail in order to keep the building operational until a new panel could be installed. He noted to members of the buildings and grounds committee this could get very costly, very quickly considering personnel expense.
“I think we have to replace the panel, that is too big of a risk otherwise,” Brandl said.
While looking at replacing the panel, the county is also looking to improve its functionality by adding a voice audio option to the panel. This would give the county the ability to issue either pre-recorded or live messages when the alarms were going off.
Svejda explained that the voice prompt could alert on where in the building the alarm was set off and if there was a need to evacuate the entire structure or if it was isolated to one area. He noted it could also prove useful for staff determining the best exit out of the building so that they were not going toward where the fire was located.
Another factor committee members took into consideration was in the case of an active shooter situation. The county recently did a full-scale active shooter drill in the courthouse. One of the challenges that came out of that was with the sharing of information on where in the building the individual was using the speakers on the phone system which did not work well if individuals were away from their desks.
The county passed on the option to add blue strobe lights to alert for things other than fires. Under fire codes the flashing white light should only be used to indicate a fire alarm. The cost of adding blue flashing light would have increased the cost by about another $50,000.
“The elephant can be eaten piece by piece,” Decker said, noting the county could add the blue strobes in the future if they wanted to.
The current panel has lasted for more than 20 years, Brandl said, noting they would probably see similar life for the replacement panel.
Typically this sort of action would only need the approval of the buildings and grounds committee. However, since ARPA funds are being spent, the county requires approval also by the finance and personnel committee. In addition, since it is an expense over $100,000, it will go to the full county board for final action in January.While the acton was unanimous at the buildings and grounds meeting, at the finance and personnel committee member Scott Mildbrand was opposed, instead favoring replacing with a similar panel without the added feature. “It seems like a waste of spending $112,000 more for a system we have been fully able to function with in the past,” he said.
In other business, buildings and grounds committee members:
Raised the fees for the Perkinstown Winter Sports Area keeping them in line with rates charged by similar facilities in the region. The cost will go from $8 per person for a half day pass to $10 and from $13 per person for a full day pass to $15 per person. In addition, groups will receive a dollar per person discount for reserving in advance and there will be no change in the rates charged for school groups. The county also adjusted the hours to have the facility open to the public on Friday nights. Groups are also welcome to come in then.
Clarified that for recommendations for fairgrounds improvements, groups should make the request to the fair board. The fair board will then review it and see if the request aligns with overall use of the fairgrounds and make a recommendation to Svejda who will make a decision and/or potentially bring it to the buildings and grounds committee for final action. Svejda said a group can also bring things to him if they have not heard back from the fair board in a timely manner. The issue arose from recent tensions between the two groups.
Received an update on the audio in the county board room. County clerk Andria Farrand is working on this and received a quote of $38,000 for a microphone and speaker system, which she felt was more than what was needed and is continuing to explore other options.
Clarified the lighting on the clock tower, keeping it at the current four sets of lights. In April, the county displays blue for Autism Acceptance, in early fall it is purple for suicide awareness. In early November it is lit green in support of veterans and Operation Green Light. The color request and schedule are set by the buildings and grounds committee.
Approved a casual employee position to serve as the custodian for the Gilman nutrition site. This position was also approved as part of the casual employee schedule by the finance and personnel committee.
