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Logan County Board
January Building and Grounds Committee Meeting
[January 13, 2026]
On Monday, January 12th, the
Building and Grounds Committee of the larger Logan County Board held
their monthly meeting in the Blue Room of the Logan County Safety
Complex at 5:30 p.m. The meeting was attended by all five committee
members, including Chairman Lance Conahan, Vice Chairman Hannah
Fitzpatrick, Dale Nelson, Gil Turner, and Jim Wessbecher. Also in
attendance were Building Restoration Consultant Bill Walter, as well
as board members Kathy Schmidt and Kevin Knauer. Ron Otto and Jeff
Wunderlin of Lincoln Christian Church (LCC), and Jim Havey of Young
Security were also present.
The meeting started with the
approval of the previous month’s minutes, followed by Conahan making
a change to the order of the agenda. He moved Otto and Wunderlin’s
item, a donation to the county by LCC to the top. Otto was invited
to get up and speak, and talked to the board about a donation he and
his church were wanting to make toward Latham Park, which is located
just across from LCC. He stated that their congregation recently
collected a large tithe, with a portion of that money set to be
donated back to the community. In total, he shared that they
collected $15,000 that they were wanting to go to Latham Park.
Otto continued, stating that the
pre-school uses the park a lot, and they were wanting to help with
lighting upgrades that the county is currently working on. They were
also hoping any extra money could be used for additional playground
equipment. The board shared that, while they appreciated LCC wanting
to contribute to the lights, that is an item that was already
budgeted for. Instead, they suggested all $15,000 go toward any
upgrades LCC and the board could agree on, with new playground
equipment being at the top of that list.
Conahan then moved the committee on to old business, starting with
an update on the courthouse internet provider and backup provider.
The county has been trying to secure a secondary internet provider
for the courthouse for when Comcast goes down. This leaves the
county without any way to conduct business, and they are seeking a
backup. This is something they have been working on for many months.
Conahan stated that he was having talks with the Sheriff to see if a
line of fiber could be run from the Safety Complex to the
courthouse, as i3 Broadband is the provider at that location.
Next, Conahan suggested removing the second item from old business
from the agenda. This item, working with Heart IT on an email
retention policy for the county for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
requests, has been difficult for Conahan to get a clear answer on.
He also stated that he talked to another IT company who suggested
the county may already have something they are paying for in this
regard that would just have to be turned on by Heart IT.
The committee next spoke on a resolution for the courthouse lights.
It was stated that, as the policy currently stands, changing the
courthouse light colors can be a lengthy process. Nelson stated that
the lights brought a lot of positive attention to the county over
the last year, referencing changing them pink for breast cancer
awareness in October. He stated he would like to see school sports
be represented in things like victories in state championships,
something that was echoed by several committee members and guests.
Wessbecher pushed back a bit, asking who decides what to change the
colors too and for what reasons. Nelson stated that is why there
would still be a policy, but it might be relaxed to allow for
changes at a shorter notice than at current. Fitzpatrick suggested
having an email or text chain between the board members where they
could discuss it on short notice. Nelson stated he would work on
something to bring forward for consideration at a later date.
The next part of the agenda was new business, starting with an
update from Walter on the restoration project and elevator update.
For the courthouse, Walter stated that the first floor courtroom was
completed for judicial business. They are still looking into designs
for being able to quickly convert it into a space where the county
board could hold meetings. Walter also called the security area
“virtually complete.” They are currently working with B & B Electric
to get an exit alarm installed on a door. This process is keeping
them from reopening the women’s restroom, and by extension keeping
them from beginning work on the men’s restroom. They are hoping all
of that work will be completed in the next eight to ten days.
Conahan stated that they met with a
few groups recently about the heating in the building. He stated
that they are looking into fixing some issues they have been having.
He also mentioned that they are working with Verigy to get the
lights in the courthouse fixed, something Conahan stated he has been
working on since last summer. He stated that Verigy seems to have
identified the issue this week, but that they are going to be
cutting the county a check for the cost of manual lights if they
cannot fix it. The lights, which are on a system that is set to turn
them off at a specific time, are staying on all night in some areas
of the building.
Walter then gave an update on the elevator update. He stated that
they are thinking of beginning work around March 15th. They worked
the timeline down to sixteen days, although the county has to pay
extra for this accelerated timeline. The thought was that paying
more for faster work would be less expensive than renting a lift for
over a month. Walter did state that they were also looking into
purchasing a lift, rather than renting one, for less than $10,000.
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Getting back to
the courthouse, Walter stated that the stained glass is
virtually done. There are some panels that are not yet
installed, but this is due to some work that needs to be done
around that is easier to do with the glass panes not there.
The next item on the agenda was an
update on a scaffolding invoice from American Scaffolding, the
company that provided the exterior scaffolding while the courthouse
dome was being restored. Previously, it was determined that, due to
come leadership changes, American Scaffolding stated there were
several invoices that had not been paid by Logan County. This was
contrary to the county’s belief that they were all paid up. The
amount American Scaffolding stated was still due was around
$225,000, and all of the invoices were new and not previously paid.
Walter stated that, as leverage, he refused to send some of the
scaffolding invoices to the board for payment to ensure that the
company would do a good job. Walter stated that, at times, the
“quality of work was not sufficient.”
There were several people among the committee who were concerned
about paying these invoices if they could not verify that they were
in the correct amount, notably Nelson and Turner. Turner stated that
he would not vote to pay them as some were as old as 2021, and
Nelson stated that he did not want to pay just because American
Scaffolding stated that was what they owed. Conahan added that the
representative from the company he has been speaking to is very
concerned that the county will not pay. A suggestion was made for
Conahan to talk to the representative and see if American
Scaffolding would be willing to settle for a lower amount. Conahan
decided that he wanted to bring the issue to the State’s Attorney
Brad Hauge first.
The next several agenda items were
all surrounding the issue of county buildings and parks getting
updates to their fire and security systems. Conahan invited Havey,
owner of Young Security, to speak on the updates. Havey stated that
the Animal Control building is without a working fire alarm, and
that the courthouse security system is at least 25 years old. He
also stated that all new security systems would come with an app
that could be accessed on the phones of people the county would want
to have access to.
The committee then voted unanimously on the following proposals in
these amounts:
● Fire alarm for Logan County
Animal Control - $9,795
● Courthouse fire alarm replacement - $14,483
● Burglary alarm at John D Logan building - $5,845
● Burglary alarm at the courthouse - $15,945
● Alarm replacement at Scully Park - $1,500
● Controlled access (key cards) at the courthouse - $8,395
Next, the committee briefly spoke on an invoice approval for new
benches in the second floor courtroom. Judge Wright brought these
invoices forward and stated that he needed someone from the county
to pay for it, as it had yet to be paid. The invoice was from about
a year prior and was in the amount of just under $30,000. There was
a bit of discussion of whether to take the amount out of the
restoration fund or the general fund, but no decision was made other
than the one to pay it. It was unanimously approved.
After this, the county had to vote on the first of two change
orders, this one from Restoric. Walter stated that they were
painting four brackets ($1,600), painting a ring around the dome
($17,000), installing LED lights ($28,725), and restoring a mural
($36,750). The total cost was $84,075. The committee voted to
approve it.
Conahan then brought up the item of replacing the servers in the
courthouse. The county was initially quoted at about $100,000 for
this, but it came in at less than half of that amount. The cost of
the new server would be $23,851.94, and the cost to move all of the
computers over to this new server would be $25,606.40. Both items
were unanimously approved by the committee.
The final item of the agenda was the second change order, that being
to TK Elevator for their updates to the exterior courthouse elevator
mentioned previously. This item keeps getting more expensive, and
the committee wanted to make sure they were not going to be spending
as little above what was initially voted on as possible. They voted
on and unanimously approved a change order “not to exceed $30,000.”
Conahan stated that part of the high cost was due to the fact that
they “bought the most expensive hydraulic lift money could buy.” He
stated that they did not want the elevator to break down again, and
that it should not for a very long time.
After this final vote, the committee voted to adjourn the meeting.
[Matt Boutcher]
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