Getting the ball rolling on expanding and remodeling the Lincoln Center is the first priority of the county's Capital Improvements Committee.
The committee met Monday to consider all capital improvement requests from county departments. The County Board will act on its recommendations during the 2001 budget process.
Committee members recommend next year's budget include $200,000 for architect fees and land acquisition costs for the Lincoln Center project. The intent is to break ground in the spring of 2002. A space needs analysis conducted in 1999 found the Department on Aging needs an additional 17,900 square feet of space added to the existing 16,000-square foot Lincoln Center. Building plans stalled last year during the downtown jail debate.
A $1.21 million request by the Solid Waste Management Department was crossed off the capital improvement list following the Solid Waste Management Board's decision last week to ship waste out of the county, instead of building a new landfill, when the current landfill in the town of Stockton reaches capacity. Buying property for and developing a new landfill would have cost an estimated $5.66 million, which would have been funded through tipping fees, a reserve fund and borrowing.
In order of priority, the other six requests that the Capital Improvement Committee ranked are: $40,000 towards landscaping at the Ruth Gilfry Center, which would eliminate a workers compensation risk caused by mowing steep hills at the site; $23,500 to finish surfacing the Tomorrow River State Trail; $150,000 to create more than a dozen new campsites at Lake Emily County Park; $63,000 for maintenance equipment at the Central Wisconsin Airport; $50,000 to improve courtroom security; and an undetermined amount to replace outdated Sheriff's Department communications equipment.
Communications equipment at the Sheriff's Department, including the dispatch console, mobile and portable radios, is at or near the end of its service life, Sheriff Stan Potocki said. Motorola, the manufacturer, no longer makes parts for some of the items.
County Board Chairman Clarence Hintz said the county should hire a consultant to determine if the Sheriff's Department can consolidate dispatch operations with the Stevens Point Police Department.
With the county considering building a new law enforcement facility, including courts, a jail and Sheriff's Department, the Capital Improvement Committee shot down a $2 million request to upgrade the heating, ventilation and cooling systems at the County-City Building.
"We don't want to stick a lot of money there, if we're going to move in three years, may be four years, maybe sooner," Hintz said.
The above capital improvement requests would be funded through the property tax levy. The committee set aside three possible projects that would be funded through alternate sources.
The Parks Committee requested $330,000 to be used to pay some of the costs of acquiring property at Wolf Lake, the last undeveloped lake in the county. The property became available last year, and state Sen. Kevin Shibilski is working to get state stewardship funds to buy the property, Park Superintendent Gary Speckmann said. The stewardship program is a 50-50 split between state money and local matching funds. The county is looking for federal funds, which would reduce the local share to 20 percent, Hintz said.
The Planning and Zoning Department is looking for $4 to $5 million for the urban park/business park acquisition.
By listing the projects as potential bonding projects, it gives them some priority "if things fall in place" and willing sellers come forward, Planning and Zoning Director Charles Kell said.