News Detail

About a dozen people missed the opening notes of the Friesland Community Band’s concert Tuesday night, because they wanted to keep talking about Columbia County’s proposed building project.

The audience at the second of five public information meetings about the proposed $55 million project was small (it took place in the county’s second-smallest village, at population 356), but the topics discussed and questions asked covered a broad range of issues, from costs to logistics to the county’s building needs 50 years from now. Much of that discussion took place before the formal presentation began.

Fred Heidt of Cambria held an informational brochure about the project in his hand, and occasionally gestured with it, as he conversed with Columbia County Supervisor Teresa Ann Sumnicht of Columbus, a member of the County Board’s Infrastructure Committee.

“Somebody has to pay for this,” he said, “and this is all getting shoved to the younger generation. Around here, if we don’t have money, we don’t spend money.” Sumnicht said concerns about the costs have always been part of any discussion about a public project -- and none of the 28 supervisors, she said, wants to spend $55 million.

However, she said, problems of crowding and compromised confidentiality at the Department of Health and Human Services, and concerns about security in the courts, won’t just go away.

“Sometimes, we all need to rally together,” she said. “We’re doing this because we feel there is a need for it.”

During the presentation, Sumnicht said the proliferation of guns and an increasingly agitated population prompted discussion of making the courts safer for the public, and for people who work there.

Potter Lawson consultant Ron Locast said the key to safety in court buildings lies not primarily in metal detectors at the doors, but in designing buildings so that the traffic patterns keep the public, court employees and in-custody prisoners separate from each other.

One of the proposals that the Infrastructure Committee is considering entails building a new structure for courts, near the Columbia County Jail, then modifying the existing courthouse to accommodate non-court-related county offices only.

Carl Vander Galien of Friesland commented, “I’m all for building a new courthouse, instead of fixing up what we have.”

Locast said the situation at the Department of Health and Human Services -- which is now housed in a 20,000-square-foot former manufacturing building in Portage’s industrial park -- is a primary driver of the county’s infrastructure discussion.

The department needs more than the twice the space it has now, to ensure that social workers can conduct confidential business behind closed office doors, instead of in open cubicles as they do now.

Infrastructure Committee Chairman Andy Ross said the committee is trying to do what should have been done a decade ago -- make a long-term plan for facilities such as the Department of Health and Human Services, instead of having to decide quickly where to put county departments. When the Sheriff’s Office wanted the space at 711 E. Cook St. formerly occupied by HHS the health and human services facilities had to be relocated within months, and the building at 2652 Murphy Road was what was available, Ross said.

If the courthouse is built by the jail, then a new health and human services building would be constructed in downtown Portage on West Conant Street, either attached to or across the street from the existing courthouse.

Or, the courthouse could be renovated and added onto, to accommodate court offices only, and non-court offices and HHS could be located away from downtown, such as the site of a nearly-vacant strip mall south of downtown Portage.

Heidt asked some detailed questions about how “elaborate” new buildings would be, because “you’re pushing my dollars out the door.” Ross said the goal is to build structures that would last for 50 years or more, with space for future expansion -- and that would entail using high-quality materials.

But $55 million is a high estimate of costs, Locast said, and it’s more than likely that the project will end up costing less.

Also, the property tax impact -- an $80 per year increase for the owner of a $200,000 home, if the entire $55 million were borrowed all at once -- will likely be much less if the borrowing takes place over a period of years.

Ross said he could not yet answer, however, what kind of tax impact the project would have on major Columbia County businesses and industries, such as Alsum Produce near Friesland. Heidt said he came to the meeting to make his concerns about the project, and its costs, known to county officials.

“I just think it’s a done deal,” he said. “Something’s going to happen. We all know that, but I wanted to express my views.”

Source-On Request