The Marion County Board has entered into a letter of intent with Ameresco to use them to manage a number of major building renovation projects. The decision came after a competitor Centrica made a proposal.
Board Building Committee Chair Creighton Engel didn’t feel the county could wait to move forward and noted they had already successfully started working with Ameresco.
“There’s no contract per se, in other words, it’s a way of saying we are going to work together and it’s a letter of intent. Ameresco basically does all their design work, studies of all the buildings and projects ahead of time at no cost. Their fees are built-in on a project-by-project basis.”
The county board also moved forward with a contract with Mason Masonry to make improvements to the outside of the courthouse at a cost of $84,372.
“That’s going to be the cleaning and sealing of the limestone of the exterior of the courthouse itself. There will be some tuckpointing and some grinding that will have to be done on some of the joints. And repair work on some of the stonework that has eroded away due to not having maintenance done since 1978. This is the project that Mason’s Masonry will be starting this fall and hopefully, we will get it done in a speedy manner.”
The board agreed to put Ameresco in charge of finding a solution to the problems with the new heating and air conditioning system at the courthouse that provides inconsistent temperatures.
Top Notch Tree Service in Salem was awarded a $2,400 bid to remove an Oak Tree on the courthouse lawn that is starting to die. A new tree will be placed to replace it.
The board Monday night also agreed to look at accepting a pillar from one of the first two courthouses in Salem that is in the possession of Salem Historian Frank Brinkerhoff. The board is looking at putting the pillar on the concrete pad outside the west door that formerly held the canon that has since been moved inside the foyer of the courthouse.
The board agreed to look at the cost of installing a video recording system for county board meetings that could then be burned to a disc for a permanent record. Sheriff Andy Garden says the recorder would be an extension of their recording system in the jail. The system would not allow for live broadcasts of the county board meetings.
