County Board Advances Building Upgrades

The Vermilion County Board has agreed to hire a firm to prepare plans for improvements at four county-owned buildings. Bill Pickett has more….

County Board Chairman Larry Baughn says the firm selected is Centrica Business Solutions…

{AUDIO:  “They’re out of Chicago, and they deal specifically with government agencies.  They had been the ones to put together the entire project – what they thought our needs were initially.  So, this just gives them the authority to go forward and give us actual plans. And then we’ve also hired an outside architect that is not with Centrica just so we have another set of eyes working on our side to make sure the plans they are putting forward are the right path for the county.”}

County Board Finance Committee chairman Steve Miller explains where the improvements are proposed…

{AUDIO:  “That would be the Vermilion County Courthouse, the Cannon Building, the Health Department building, and the EMA building on route one.  All of those buildings have very antiquated HVAC systems which need to be updated for performance purposes and for trying to conserve energy.”

New lighting and windows are also included in the plans.

Miller explains why he proposed the county hire its own architect to oversee the projects…

{AUDIO:  “Many times contractors want to provide their own architectural and engineering services to the county.  And I simply want someone who has total allegiance to us.  This is an architect firm we’ve used in the past with good results.  And I think when you’re spending $6-million dollars it pays to have professional people examine what the plans are and what the proposals are.”}

The County Board has earmarked federal ARPA Covid relief money to pay for the work.  Miller added he does not expect any of the actual work to get underway until next year.  Once Centrica has the plans completed it will be up to the county board to decide whether to proceed with the work.

{The building shown above is the Rita B. Garman Vermilion County Courthouse.}