The Greene County supervisors spent more than an hour at their June 16 meeting discussing the new HVAC system at the courthouse. Representatives of BBS Architects/Engineering explained the scope, timeline, and various costs of the $3.1 million project.
The heating system will be a gas-fired hot water system that will operate at 88-92 percent efficiency, according to Holly Elbert, mechanical engineer and partner of BBS. The 1970s boiler in the basement will be replaced by a boiler in the attic. Chillers for the air conditioning will be placed on the southwest corner of the roof. A parapet will block the view of the chillers from street level.
Bid documents for the project will show the HVAC as a base bid and replacement of the courthouse roof as an alternate bid. The existing PVC roof is past life expectancy and has had several repairs. Installing the equipment on the roof will require more perforations, so the BBS recommends, and the supervisors agree, that replacing the roof in conjunction with the project is efficient.
The logistics of the project are daunting as the courthouse must remain open for business. The work will be done one-half of a floor at a time. The most challenging period will be while work is done in the auditor’s and treasurer’s office, as seven employees will need to be relocated elsewhere in the courthouse.
BBS will have final specs completed and available to contractors by June 30. Bid opening will be at the end of July. Two weeks later a contract and paperwork will be completed with the successful bidder and work will begin. The date for substantial completion is estimated to be June 29, 2026.
During his weekly report to the supervisors engineer Wade Weiss reported progress on paving projects on P-29 and E-26.
He also reported that seven or eight bells on the Mahanay bell tower are malfunctioning. They’re on the outside of the exterior structure and are prone to lightning strikes, he said. They’ll need to be taken down from the tower to repair them and then hoisted back up. He estimated cost at $12,000, including cost of renting a crane.
County attorney Thomas Laehn didn’t mince words when he talked with the supervisors about Gov Kim Reynolds’ veto of HF 639, a bill that would have impacted construction of Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed carbon dioxide pipeline. “I am not surprised at all,” he said. “Bruce Rastetter has given $175,000 to Kim Reynolds in campaign donations and now she has returned the favor. He will likely now, if this project moves forward, potentially get $30 billion in tax credits for a project that doesn’t do any good.”
Laehn gave the supervisors a current map showing landowners on the proposed route who have refused to grant a voluntary easement, “almost a solid wall across Greene County,” he said. “This is stepping up to be the largest taking in the history of the state. Assuming these landowners don’t sign easements, Summit will be initiating condemnation proceedings against every single one of these landowners to take their land from them.”
He said Iowa House speaker Pat Grassley has called for a special session (to override Reynolds’ veto). He doesn’t think that will happen.
Shelby and Story counties passed ordinances against the pipeline but they were struck down in court.
He said there were imperfections in HF 639 but he thought it was a “foregone conclusion” Reynolds would veto it.
Laehn also briefed the supervisors on a lawsuit filed by Hardin County against the Central Iowa Juvenile Detention Center, of which Greene County is a member. Hardin County claims in the lawsuit that amendments to the 28E agreement covering the center and the addition of new counties to the consortium after 2000 didn’t follow correct procedures. Greene County joined in 1999 so is not affected by the lawsuit.
He mentioned discussion of Iowa’s Department of Government Efficiency floating an idea to consolidate counties. “I think this HVAC project is a really good thing,” Laehn said. “I think we need to do everything we can to position ourselves so if that day ever comes, we remain a seat of government in the state of Iowa.”
