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The pricetag is up from a $3.5-million-to-$5.5-million estimate offered in June, but marks a decrease in cost from a more ambitious plan considered last year that would have created an office campus near the Winona County Courthouse. Commissioners pared back those plans after a November 2007 study previewed four options for adding onto or constructing new office buildings at a cost of between $13 million and $51 million.
The proposal discussed Tuesday would add two stories onto the three-story building on Third Street, and also expand its ground-level footprint for a total of about 22,000 square feet of new space. The existing space in the building also would be renovated to house the county’s human, health, vital and veteran’s services departments. The county’s Emergency Operations Center and a proposed day care for children of county employees also may be housed in the new building expansion, though commissioners haven’t decided on those components yet.
Mental health could consolidate
Winona County workers who oversee mental-health and child-support cases may start working with their counterparts in neighboring counties in an attempt to trim costs, Human Services director Craig Brooks told commissioners Tuesday morning.
Brooks said consolidation talks already have begun with Houston and Wabasha counties, as local governments look for ways to merge services in the face of expected cuts in state funding. By initiating the talks now instead of waiting until they’re forced by funding cuts, Brooks said the counties should be better able to continue helping people who rely on the county for counseling or other services.
“We need to be proactive and decide what would work best for our citizens, instead of having the state do it to us,” Brooks said.
Commissioners enthusiastically backed the consolidation talks, marking the second time in recent months they have endorsed talks of merging services with neighboring counties. In July, commissioners endorsed negotiating with Wabasha County on a proposed swap of jail and emergency-dispatch services.
County may enforce building code
Commissioners may soon vote to adopt and enforce the Minnesota building code, following passage of a law earlier this year that applies the code to most new structures built throughout the state.
As a result of that law, Planning Director Brian Bender told commissioners that the county may now be liable for code violations on new buildings. Bender said the county should consider hiring inspectors or outsourcing to enforce the code.
Commissioners appeared to welcome Bender’s proposal, except for Marcia Ward, who questioned how inspectors would enforce codes on the county’s Amish population.
“I don’t want to see us adding staff” to enforce building codes, Ward said.
Mark Sommerhauser may be reached at (507) 453-3514 or at msommerhauser@winonadailynews.com
Me wrote on Oct 8, 2008 7:57 PM: