New county shop considered

The Jackson County Commissioners are considering a new county shop where road and bridge department vehicles and equipment could be maintained better.

For the past several weeks, the commissioners have been evaluating the current shop, located at 525 Lowell Ave. in Holton, just north of the Holton Co-op. 

“This is not a fixer upper,” said Commissioner Bill Elmer during a tour of the facility Monday afternoon. “This project is way past due.”

Elmer said the current county shop was originally constructed in 1927, with an addition built in the 1930s. The addition was a WPA (Works Progress Administration) project designed to put local people to work during the Great Depression.

The original building built in the 1920s totals 5,742 square feet. With the additions and the storage sheds, the total square footage nears 12,000 square feet.

The current shop building includes a small office, a bathroom, a parts room, a storage room, a tire room and two bay areas to work on equipment. Several of the rooms include just concrete walls and ceilings with no installation. 

There are additional Quonset huts outside the building where some small vehicles are parked.   

The commissioners said that the older buildings were not designed to maintain larger, modern pieces of equipment.

“We can’t even get 50 percent of the equipment through the door,” Elmer said. “We can’t justify fixing this.”

While county employees can work on the larger equipment outside during the warmer months, the machines have to be taken apart in the winter in order to fit into a bay area. Or the employees just work on them outside, it was reported.

Many of the old double-paned windows on the outside of the building are in disrepair and provide poor insulation in the colder months, the commissioners said. 

In the addition, which houses the tire shop and extra tires, the walls are just wood planks, and gaps in the planks let light, cold air and dust through. The stone exterior of the addition is also starting to crumble in areas. 

Currently, inventory records are kept strictly on paper, and the commissioners said their goal is to get the entire inventory computerized in order to be more efficient.

Various heaters, which utilize used oil, heat some of the areas. Some parts of the shop have no heat source.

The commissioners are accepting bids to construct a 125-foot long by 80-foot wide, all metal, pre-engineered building to serve as the new shop. 

The new shop would be located between the county recycling center and the bridge yard on the east edge of town, it was reported. 

“We want an all steel building and that eliminates several contractors who don’t do those types of buildings,” Elmer said.

The commissioners would like the new shop to include four bays – two mechanic bays, one tire bay and a wash bay. A smaller bay is also being considered with a car lift so vehicles from other county departments could be maintained at the facility.

Additional areas needed at the new shop include a parts department, a supply area, a bathroom and an office.

“All the utilities are here on this existing property, and the county already owns the property,” Elmer said of the bridge yard area. 

An underground waterline, however, would have to be rerouted if the shop is built next to the yard, it was noted.

The building would be constructed so that there would be two different accesses to the shop to create a better flow for vehicle traffic, it was reported.

“We want it to be easier for the equipment to get in and out,” Commissioner Rob Ladner said. 

Large Quonset huts are also being considered in order for most of the equipment to be covered when parked.

“These machines are expensive, and we shouldn’t let them sit out in the weather. We need to take better care of them,” said Commissioner Janet Zwonitzer. 

Elmer said that five contractors have been contacted about bidding the building but additional contractors are invited to a special meeting at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 13, to hear more about the specifications to determine if they want to submit a bid on the project. 

Preliminary bids on the project are due the first week of December. 

“We’ll probably choose three contractors and then, from there, narrow it down to one,” Elmer said. 

All three commissioners agreed that the plans for the building could change based upon the bids submitted.

“This is definite need, but we have a price limit in our heads that we don’t want to go over,” Zwonitzer said, noting that the commissioners didn’t want that number publicized and affect the bidding process. “These plans are just a starting point, and we may have to change them.”

The commissioners said they want the general contractor that is selected for the project to use local businesses for the subcontract work.

It’s likely that the county would pursue a bond to pay for the cost of the new shop, the commissioners said. 

“Now is the perfect time to do this because the county is out of debt,” Elmer said. “We don’t have anything else on our radar, and it’s time to move on it.”

If a bond is used to pay for the building, the commissioners said they want to look for a short-term bond.  

“We could pay this down quickly,” Elmer said. “We think it’s doable.”