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County K Building warm and welcoming
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DeleteThe County K building project is almost to the finish line but got thrown a curve ball at the last minute at their meeting Monday, April 18.
    Mary Mezera - Regional Manager for the ADRC of Southwest Wisconsin, was present at the meeting and went through a current check list of items that the ADRC requires. ADRC is renting space in the upstairs of the County K building.
    The item that raised the ire of the committee was - the ADRC needs a separate entrance and waiting room/area, that is warm and welcoming. Right away chairman Bill Moody asked, “Why weren’t we told about this in November, when we were starting this project?” Mezera responded, “I think this is a new contract that came out in 2016 and the ADRC is looking for consistency across the state.”
    Jack Sauer went off, “I don’t get it, I would like someone from Madison that made these dumb decisions to come down here and explain this to me. I’m not going to spend any more taxpayer money on this thing here, I don’t care which building we’re in. I’m about ready to put my foot down and say - no! Somebody needs to and what if every county in Wisconsin said - no, what are they going to do then?” he continued, “You can’t put the cattle with the pigs, I thought we were supposed to be integrating.”
    Human Services Department Head, Shane Schuhmacher asked Mezera what kind of mechanism does the committee have to address this with the ADRC, can they write a letter, detailing the committee’s feelings and the small traffic area? Sauer said, “I can see this for Milwaukee, where they have 35 in the waiting area, but it doesn’t transfer to Lafayette County where there are one or two.”
    Moody asked, “What if we don’t comply with this ADRC requirement?” Mezera responded, “As I understand it, it would be a monetary reduction or moving the ADRC office.” Sauer said, “I think we should let this sit and in the mean time we contact our representative, senator and governor’s office and see what we can get done.”
    Other ADA and ADRC items were an automatic door the committee looked into that and found it wasn’t required; Reception desk lowered so wheel chair users can be at eye level with the receptionist and the committee has addressed that; Lever door handles will be taken of.
    Toilets came up next. Apparently a sewer back-up happened. The thought was the building needed more water flow from the toilets. Rielly Plumbing and Heating reported a 1.6 gallon toilet is all you can install in a new government facility. The good news is that Rielly put the camera down the sewer pipe and then reamed the pipe with the snake, and now it seems the water is flowing fine. Ed Wiegel, county custodian and committee member, is looking into a floor water alarm in case water heater fails or the sewer backs up, so that the IT area wouldn’t be threatened.
    Janitor bids - Paul’s Indoor Outdoor Property Caretaker (Paul Copus) was chosen for the 25 hours of cleaning per week. Approved by committee.
    Mowing bid - Johnson’s Total Lawn Care (Nick Johnson) got the mowing bid for the 2016 season. Approved by Committee.
    The committee discussed the rent quoted by the City of Darlington and decided to rent a 10x40 garage from Saunders Storage. Which means Human Services will be completely moved out of their current quarters by May 1.
    Other items include outdoor lights bids; Key Fobs for three doors and will be paid for by the Human Services (two internal and an employee entrance); IT reported they were ready for the move and Jason Walter, Lafayette County IT technician, will be on hand to make everything goes smoothly; Human Services is feverously working to be ready for the move; Second paving for the parking lots will be late May or early June; getting a price on dumpsters; Schuhmacher is still working on outdoor signage.