(Spirit Lake)– Discussion at Tuesday’s Dickinson county board of supervisors meeting dealt mainly with changeorders for the courthouse project.
Supervisors approved several changeorders, including one that deducts 1,140-dollars for work that will not be needed on a wall near a water chiller. An add-on of 2,458-dollars for a radiator fan and other equipment to be located over a sallyport; a four thousand dollar deduct was approved for a transfer switch; and a 1,605-dollar add-on was approved for a footing that dropped. Money for the changeorders will come from the difference between what the architects had predicted and the actual bid for the project.
The supervisors also approved a proposal to get new designs for a common area of the jail that would have allowed as many as 12 inmates into the area at one time. The change will allow for a second area so the inmates can be split up into smaller groups. Sheriff Greg Baloun had expressed concern in the past over security issues with the larger number of prisoners in one area. The cost of the new design and construction will be somewhere between 55-thousand and 70-thousand dollars. Allowing the design change to take place didn’t really sit well with supervisor Paul Johnson, who was concerned it could lead to similar last minute requests for changes from other departments. Supervisor Wayne Northey said this situation is different in that safety of both jail workers and inmates would be at risk, posing a huge liability to the county. He said it’s the county’s responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Supervisors also approved a proposal to install air conditioning in the new utility building. The 3,368-dollars for the project will come out of the 911 Commission’s budget. It is to be drawn from an 80-thousand dollar reserve that was accumulated through 911 fees. Supervisor David Gottsche expressed concern over that, saying there’s a delegation of people that don’t want the county dipping into reserve funds to help pay for the project.
