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Logan County Board
October Building and Grounds Committee Meeting
[October 09, 2025]
On Tuesday, October 7th, the
Building and Grounds Committee of the larger Logan County Board held
their monthly meeting. This meeting, which started at 5:30 p.m., was
held in the Blue Room of the Logan County Safety Complex. Four of
the five committee members were present, which included Committee
Chairman Lance Conahan, Dale Nelson, Gil Turner, and Jim Wessbecher.
Committee Vice Chairman Hannah Fitzpatrick was not in attendance.
After the group approved their minutes from the previous month’s
meeting, they got into the last item on the agenda. This item was a
use of grounds request for the “Downtown Lincoln Winter Wonderland
Festival” that is set to run from November 22nd through January 1st.
This item was approved and moved on to the Workshop meeting without
any discussion.
Next, Conahan moved the committee on to an update from Facilities
Manager Bill Walter on the state of the Logan County Courthouse
restoration project. Walter started by sharing that some miswiring
was discovered, but the company working on it is sure they will be
able to fix it and are doing so at no cost. Next, Walter shared that
the mill work for the first floor courtroom should be coming in this
week and that progress has been made on the women’s restroom and the
security area. Some of the bullet proof glass for the area was not
made correctly, but it is being remade and should still be on time.
He also shared that all three areas should be finished by the end of
November.
Conahan then talked about an idea
to either move the Sojourn to another room of the courthouse, or out
of the courthouse entirely. They were talking about making another
room for her, but this would be a cost the committee was not sure
they would be able to take on. Additionally, because the Sojourn is
not a county employee, Conahan was unsure that they should be using
taxpayer money to make an office for her. He stated that moving her
to an already established space would be more cost effective for the
renovation.
After this, a discussion was had on building a restroom next to the
prisoner holding area on the third floor. The cost for this would be
$16,000, but it would be to avoid liability. As it stands, to get a
prisoner from that area to the restroom, leg shackles must be taken
off. If there were a bathroom right next to that area, this would
not have to be done and there would be less chance of a prisoner
tripping and the county being held liable.
Nelson then asked about lighting being fixed, as a representative
from the company Veregy was present. Nelson stated that it had been
over a year since the lights were installed and there have been
problems since. He also stated that Judge Wright’s lights have never
worked in that time. Nelson started to get upset, saying that not
only the lights, but the HVAC system had not worked properly either.
The Veregy representative stated
that he understood the frustration and wanted to work with the
county to get things fixed. He stated that their reputation is very
important to them. It was around this time that a system called FMX,
which the county could use to submit work requests to Veregy was
discussed. Nelson and Walter did not know about this system. Nelson
was equally as frustrated, stating that there was a system that they
were supposed to have been using that they were not.
The Veregy representative stated
that they have a new system now that they use. Nelson asked if they
could get a login to this new system for each of their department
heads, which would total six logins. The Veregy representative said
this was possible but he did not advise it. Having one person with a
login to report issues would mean less back and forth between Veregy
and the county.
After this discussion, Conahan moved the committee on to the cost
for Henson Robinson to come in and maintain the geothermal system
quarterly. He stated that the cost was more than he was expecting,
at about $39,000 per year. The Henson Robinson representative who
was present stated that new filters for the system were a large
portion of this cost.
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The suggestion was
made for Henson Robinson to come out every six months instead,
which would cost around $21,000. Turner stated that he wanted an
itemized bill and Conahan stated that they needed to get the
first round of maintenance done before the weather started
getting too cold.
The next item discussed was an update on the scaffolding invoice
from American Scaffolding. Walter stated that he was still
waiting on a few cancelled checks from Theresa Moore, to which
Conahan stated there would be more information next month.
Conahan then brought up the topic of getting bids for snow
removal and lawn mowing. The discussion on this matter was
largely over justification for going out for bids, as whoever
the new Sheriff will be may not want to take this on the way
Mark Landers has, and making sure whoever they choose has
adequate liability insurance. Conahan stated that he is planning
on having bids to bring forth by the next committee meeting.
The next item was over the Buildings and Grounds budget. Conahan
shared that the budget has increased “substantially” from last
year. The budget last year was around $300,000, but this year it
is at about $500,000. Some of this increase has to do with the
snow and mowing, as well as the HVAC system, going out on
contract.
The final issue brought up from new business was an update on
the former Regions Bank office space that the county board used
to rent. Conahan shared that, according to the landlord, the
county board owed two months of rent on the property and
utilities. This cost would be around $10,000. Turner was not
happy with this and stated that he would like to see receipts on
this before it was paid.
The committee then moved on to their old business, which went
relatively quickly. The issue of getting a backup internet
provider was skipped over. Conahan stated Comcast had come out
and replaced the internet box. Since that was done, he has not
heard any complaints about the internet not working. He also
stated he was waiting to hear back from Heart IT on their email
retention policy.
Next was the Santa in the park, which was stated would be coming
out of the Community Benefit Fund. The next item labelled
“Christmas Lights in the park/Christmas Tree rental,” had a very
brief update. Conahan stated that there were some emails
regarding this he had not yet gone through, and so he would be
doing so that night.
The final item they talked about was the request from the
Daughters of the American Revolution Abraham Lincoln Chapter to
place a plaque in the courthouse. The liability insurance form
was not filled out, but the woman representing the group had
made it known that her group was going to see about getting
their own insurance before they moved forward with the request.
Conahan took this off the agenda until the group gets ahold of
the committee when they are ready.
The bills were then approved, with several questions from Turner
that were all answered. After this, the meeting was adjourned.
[Matt Boutcher]
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