YM County looks at less expensive option in courthouse expansion
By Robert Wolfington IIIGRANITE FALLS - Yellow Medicine County is revisiting a courthouse expansion that could cost $124,000 less than initially proposed.
The board in October voted against accepting construction bids because they came out higher than initially planned for.
Yellow Medicine County Administrator Ryan Krosch said he worked with the engineer following the board's decision, and keeping a basement level unfinished would save the county $124,000, bringing the cost to $1 million.
During an October board meeting, Commissioner Louis Sherlin said he wanted to see the project come in around $900,000 like it was originally planned for.
"I am not going to spend our taxpayers' money on this," Sherlin said in October. "When we started we said this was going to cost $900,000, max."
Building during the fall would have also cost the county an additional $124,000.
"It might be a good thing we aren't building in the fall because we're going to be saving that much more," said Krosch.
One of the issues the board is reviewing is how it will pay for the project.
Krosch said the county could pay for the entire project with its reserves, but cautioned against doing that.
Krosch said the county could pay for a majority of the project with about two month's worth of reserves and bond for the rest.
"We could do a smaller bond, something like $400,000, and I think that would work," said Krosch.
The board took a consensus to decide how to approach the project before making a visiting it again during its next meeting in December.
Commissioner Dick Wambeke said he would like to see the expansion and currently approves of moving forward, but has concerns about spending money in the face of a weakening economy.
"I'd like to see the addition," Wambeke said. "I'm just leery of spending money when we don't know what the state is going to do."
Commissioner Gary Johnson said he would just as soon finish the basement part of the project if they were to move ahead.
"If we're going to do it, just do it all," said Johnson.
Commissioner Jane Remiger said she supported the expansion and would vote in favor of its construction.
Sherlin said he wanted all commissioners present before making a decision.
Commissioner Ron Antony was absent from the meeting.
The proposed expansion to the courthouse would house the county attorney, and information technology and restorative justice offices, in addition to some added storage and space for future expansion. Currently, the county attorney is located in a county-leased office in downtown Granite Falls.
