The Marion County Board has approved two major projects. The first will address public safety issues with the elevators in the courthouse and Public Service Building. Building Committee Chair Dr. Creighton Engel says the improvements will cost $150,727.
“What this would do it would modernize the electronic panel, some of the motors and cabling. The tracks are ok. Some of the wiring and controls of the outside of the elevators themselves will have to be modified.”
Engel says the elevator cars and doors would remain the same. The improvements should give the elevators another 15 to 20 years of life.
The board also approved adding security cameras to the Marion County Storage Annex in the former Moose Lodge as well as replacing some of the cameras in the jail and public service building. The low bidder was CTS at a cost of $74,037.
Engel says the elevator work and some of the security improvements were not anticipated or budgeted and will utilize much of the $300,000 set aside for building improvements earlier. If money holds out, he would still like to see the outside walls of the courthouse cleaned and sealed this summer.
The board officially named the former Moose building the Marion County Storage Annex in Memory of Erwin Hahn. Current Board Chair Debbie Smith said Hahn did a wonderful job on the county board and saw this project through prior to his death last month.
