Logan County Board discusses maintenance issues at animal control building

 

[December 29, 2020] 

At the December Regular Logan County Board meeting on Tuesday, December 15, one focus of discussion was a pest control issue and repairs needed at the Animal Control building.

At the prior Thursday’s Workshop, Building and Grounds Chairman David Blankenship discussed the maintenance issues. He said the Animal Control building needs a new water heater, new lighting, and a new grid/tile ceiling.

The leaky metal roof at the animal control building was repaired in the past year. First, two defective HVAC units were removed. Their related roof openings were then sealed off with new metal roofing. The entire roof was coated with a spray on urethane application to stop the roof leaks.

The interior attic area was next insulated with spray foam. Deteriorated duct roof was removed, and two new HVAC systems were installed with new duct work. Two heat recovery ventilation (HRV) were installed to bring in fresh outside air.

When the roof was leaking, Blankenship said a tremendous amount of water came into the building. That damaged the suspended ceiling and light fixtures.

In addition, rodent infestation, particularly mice, has become a problem. Blankenship said it must be corrected.

At the Board Regular session, Blankenship made a motion to expend up to $26,000 to upgrade the Animal Control Building and implement pest control.

There was a question about whether Blankenship had gone out for bids and whether a pest control company could just spray an antimicrobial for now.

Blankenship said he had gone out for bids. Though spraying might be possible, his concern is that the pest control company would have to spray again soon. He does not feel it is good wisdom to waste county money on repeat applications when the situation can be resolved in one project.

Finance Chairman Steve Jenness said he would take Blankenship’s advice about what needs to be done and other board members agreed. He asked whether they could do some remediation now and then go out for more bids next month.

New board member Keenan Leesman asked about how the building got to this state and what controls the county has going forward to prevent more problems. He is concerned about the county spending all this money to fix these problems and being back in the same position five years from now. Leesman wants to know if there are any controls in place that would stop these problems from happening again.

While agreeing more needs to be done, Blankenship said he is trying to take every measure he can to prevent such problems from happening in the future.

With the exception of the Highway Department, Blankenship said he is finding the county has not had measures in place to properly maintain its facilities.

At this point, Blankenship said the best thing that can be done is to at least get the pest control problem alleviated.

In various other county buildings, Blankenship said the county is facing similar maintenance problems. He does not want to point fingers at previous administrations. He said the best thing to do is attack [the problems] and do the best we can going forward.

Schaffenacker said he is in favor of doing the pest control now and then doing the rest after looking over accounts. He motioned they spend $3,000 to get that done now. That motion was not voted on though.

Wessbecher asked if they would just do the pest control once.

The ceiling, exterior and interior are part of the wildlife exclusion treatment, which Halpin said is guaranteed for a year. After that, Halpin said they have the option of renewing that guarantee annually for $80 a year. Traps can be replaced as needed.

When upgrades were done at the animal control building last year, Blankenship said he told the board there would be additional repairs and upgrades required. He also said pest control would likely be needed. However, the board did not proceed then because the funds were not there to make corrections.

Now, there is a year’s infiltration of pests. Blankenship said he did his due diligence and just wants this monkey off his back. In his professional opinion, he can do nothing else but recommend correcting the problems at the animal control building. If the board chooses not to take action, he said it would rest on their back.

For Bob Sanders, there was also a concern about the health of the employees.

Board Chairman Emily Davenport said she would like more clarification from Logan County Treasurer Penny Thomas about the funding. A few board members had questions boosting an account fund balance from $15,000 to $40,000 to cover the necessary repairs without diminishing its fund balance.

Because of the clarifications needed about the funding source, Davenport requested that this decision be temporarily postponed and made part of an upcoming special meeting. That would give time to determine optional funding sources.

At Davenport’s request, Blankenship withdrew the initial motion. The decision will be made at a later date.

In later discussion, as Building and Grounds Chairman, Blankenship said he is not responsible for setting the animal control budget nor their building maintenance fund. What Blankenship is responsible for is repairs and upkeep of county facilities.
 

In this case, Blankenship said there is insufficient funding in the animal control budget to complete the necessary repairs. Therefore, he turned to the county treasurer to seek her professional opinion with regard to potential funding sources.

Board members present either in person or remotely were Board Chairman Emily Davenport, Vice Chairman Scott Schaffenacker, David Blankenship, Janet Estill, Cameron Halpin, David Hepler, Steve Jenness, Keenan Leesman, Bob Sanders, Annette Welch and Jim Wessbecher. Bob Farmer was absent.

[Angela Reiners]