County welcomes Judge Bill Workman
Safety Complex to get new roof, HVAC, and some lighting

[July 22, 2014]  — LINCOLN - The Logan County board met on Tuesday night to vote on issues discussed on Thursday the 10th. In addition to voting, there was a discussion on the effort being organized by the various economic development groups in the area to form a new combined organization.

New Judge for the 11th Circuit
At the beginning of the meeting, Chairman Robert Farmer introduced the new associate judge of the 11th District Circuit who will be working at the courthouse.

Judge Bill Workman stood to be recognized and introduced himself to the board members.

Judge Workman said he is replacing Judge Yoder, who will be returning to McLean County. Workman is also a resident of Logan County.

Vote on Repairing the Safety Complex Roof and HVAC
 

Kevin Bateman made a motion to approve the expenditure of funds to repair the roof of the Safety Complex and install a new HVAC system for the same building. The total cost is estimated to be $340,000. The work will be completed by Henson-Robinson of Springfield.

The board voted unanimously to approve the expenditure.

In addition, Bateman made a second motion to accept a bid from BLI Lighting in Bloomington. The bid is for the replacement of lighting on the outside areas of the Safety Complex, and the replacement of lighting in the jail cells. The bid is for $11,000. It was also unanimously approved.

“I believe I’ve spent enough money, so I’m done,” said Bateman with a chuckle, ending his report for Buildings and Grounds.

In order to help pay for the cost, Ruben made a motion to amend the budget so that a transfer of funds can be made. The transfer would take $80,000 from the Farm funds balance in the budget and place it under Buildings and Grounds. This money would be combined with existing funds in the latter category in order to pay half of the cost (roughly $170,000) in the current fiscal year.

The remainder of the cost will have to be paid in the next fiscal year. Ruben said they will work on finding where to draw the money from as the next budget is prepared.

A vote for this type of amendment requires a three-quarters majority from the board. In this case, the amendment was approved unanimously.

[By DEREK HURLEY]

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