As voters decided on extending the county's half-cent Capital Improvements Sales Tax, the Cole County Commission moved to use some of the money left in the current tax cycle for repairs at county facilities.
Fifteen percent of the funds generated from the tax go to improving county facilities; the rest goes to road improvements.
At the beginning of April, there was a balance of $559,000 in the fund for building improvements. After money used for projects already planned was taken out, $336,000 would remain. The tax is projected to generate another $640,000 this year for a balance of around $976,000 by year's end, which is the end of the current tax cycle.
At Tuesday's meeting, the commission approved replacing the courthouse annex roof, awarding a bid from Missouri Builders for more than $41,000. They also approved replacing the county Health Department's roof at its Industrial Drive facility, awarding a bid to All Seasons Roofing for more than $28,000.
The commission also directed county staff to look into bids to replace the boiler at the Carnegie Building, replace sidewalks around the courthouse after the window replacement project is completed and do several small repair projects at the Prenger Center on Stadium Boulevard.
Western District Commissioner Kris Scheperle said he wanted to bring building issues back in a couple of weeks, after the sales tax extension vote, to see what his fellow commissioners would like to do on other projects such as HVAC replacements at the courthouse and annex. The current estimate for both would be $1 million.
Scheperle also asked that part of the discussion deal with what to do with the Carnegie Building, the old county jail in the rear of the courthouse and if they wanted to get a new health department building.
"They are busting at the seams over there," said Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman of the health department. "We've looked at unoccupied buildings in several locations around town, but from what all we've seen, it looks like it would cost just as much or less to just build a new facility instead of rehabbing an old building."
"If we leave the Carnegie Building, we also lose parking space, and since we are landlocked, that's something we need to take into account because we don't have land to add parking on here," Scheperle said.
Bushman said he would think if they could do something for the Health Department, they would need the Carnegie Building for another three to four years.
The county assessor and public defender offices are housed at Carnegie. Due to the building's age there has been talk for several years of moving those offices to another location, possibly going to be old jail. But commissioners decided not to go with a plan to add a floor and convert the old jail to office space after the price tag came in at around $4 million.