ABOVE: County Board property committee chairman Mark Steinbaugh
Upgrades to three county-owned buildings are moving forward because of votes taken by the Vermilion County Board last (Tuesday) evening. First, the board agreed to accept a $2.5 million dollar gift from the Julius Hegeler II Foundation which will be used for improvements to the county animal shelter. County Board Chairman Steve Miller says all opportunities will be considered for the shelter…
AUDIO: Whether it’s acquisition or renovation; and I’ll be working the chairman of the property committee, the chairman of the health and education committee, the finance committee chairman, the former director out there Mr Hawker, and of course the current chairman Mr Goodner. And we’ll have some I’m sure preliminary discussions. And where it goes from there I’m not 100% certain, and we’ll just see where we’re headed.
The County Board also approved $3.1 million dollars in improvements for the Joseph G. Cannon Building and Rita B. Garman Vermilion County Courthouse. The board declared an emergency to replace a cooling tower in the Cannon building insuring air conditioning will be available this summer. Other work at the Cannon building includes major upgrades to the elevator. Mark Steinbaugh, chairman of the county board’s property committee, says the elevator cannot be completely replaced because the building is a national historic site….
AUDIO: We are grandfathered in because of the building status that we have. So, they will redo the entire thing, basically, except the cabin. But the cabin will be remodeled inside and outside; new electronics, new hydraulics.
Steinbaugh says work on the elevator will likely not begin until late this fall or early winter. He says it is expected to be completed next year.
Some tuckpointing and roof work is also included in the upgrades.
