CommCtArticle2014Brown County Commissioners approved a $5.799 million dollar contract with McKinstry to improve county buildings including the Brown County Courthouse, Juvenile Justice Center and Agricultural Extension Office.  McKinstry is a consulting, construction, energy, and facility service.

The contract focuses on the project goal of making improvements which leverage energy and operational savings that could possibly pay for themselves through efficiency with upgrades and retrofits.  McKinstry representatives Justin Surratt and David White explained the project which includes the following:

  • Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning System (HVAC) replacement at the Brown County Courthouse, Brown County Jail, Juvenile Justice Center and Agricultural Extension Office.  These systems, according to a previous survey of county properties by McKinstry, were within “imminent failure range.”
  • Mechanical redesign of the courthouse with a server unit/IT room
  • Lighting upgrades which will increase utility as well as efficiency at the courthouse, juvenile justice center and extension office.  Some of the lighting at the court house was reported to be up to 100 years old, according to Surratt and White.
  • Building envelope improvement (weatherproofing/insulation, particularly around windows) at the courthouse, jail, and extension office.
  • Roofing, including an overlay of sheeting and coating of the main building and complete roof replacement on portable buildings at the juvenile justice center.
  • Water conservation systems at the court house, jail, juvenile justice center and extension office which would include low flow toilets and aerators on showers and sinks.
  • Minor modifications of office space at the courthouse
  • Foundation repair at the juvenile justice center, by lifting the foundation with industrial strength foam injections, then recoating walls where cracked and repainting.

The first phase of the project was approved in a 3-1 vote with Commissioner Joel Kelton voting against the project and Commissioners Larry Traweek and Wayne Shaw along with County Judge Ray West voting in favor of the project.

The second proposed phase of the project includes the demolition of old Daniel Motors building across from the courthouse and construction of a 4000 square foot adjunct building to house the county treasurer’s office as well as the elections administration office.  The construction of this building at an estimated cost of $800,000 to $1.3 million with construction through McKinstry was not approved at Monday’s meeting of the court.  Commissioners desired time to consider outside bids before considering approval of this portion of the McKinstry project.  Consideration of this building’s construction will again be discussed at the next regular meeting of the court.

“In the ESP (Energy Savings Performance Contract), we’re going to take it down (the Daniel building) to the foundation.  Once the design contract is approved for the new build, we will ascertain the quality of that existing foundation to be used for parking, potential structural, for whatever we can use it for, there is potential that would be the demo that would be included in that $800,000 to $1.3 million of the new build,” explained Surratt.

County Auditor Nina Cox is working with the county’s financial advisor First Southwest to establish the best option to finance the project.  Cox stated that Certificates of Obligation with a maximum 20 year payout were recommended as more advantageous than tax notes that would have a higher debit service with a 7 year payback term.   Exact details of financing were not available due to the entire cost of the project being uncertain at this point; however an interest rate of 3.54% is expected.  Once approved, the new 20 year Certificate of Obligation is anticipated to add an additional 2 cents to the county’s property tax, according to Cox.