Public Building & Grounds Commission Meeting Held

DEBORAH SIMCOX

Correspondent

      At the July 1 Fayette County Public Building & Grounds Commission Meeting, the Old/New Business portion led off with Sydney Goldberg, President of Goldberg Group Architects. She presented an overview of remodeling the current jail with a proposed draft of the changes and an estimate of $2.2 million. Regarding the remodeling of the jail, Council Member Mike Black suggested, “Make Ronnie’s (Stevens) job easier; it’s not going to get any better”.

Sheriff Ronnie Stevens discussed some current problems with the jail. One of these is replacing the plumbing valves every three months. He suggested that the hard water was causing the destruction of these valves. Another problem is with the old locking system which uses brass keys (called Folger keys) that are 4”-5” long and are incorporated with the doors. This prevents just replacing the locks and keys. Stevens said, “Do away with those doors” and replace them with ones with a better working keys.

      There was some discussion about the Washington School Building, which was offered for sale several years ago but got no bids. Getting it appraised was suggested and then putting the Washington School Building on the market again.

      Fayette County is ready to start budget season. Fayette County Clerk & Recorder Jessica Barker offered this Correspondent some terms used in the budget language:

   •Levy – the money the County is seeking,

   •Tax Rate – the money the County can get, and

   •Extension – the money that the County will actually get.

      The next Fayette County Public Building & Grounds Commission Meeting will be Tuesday, August 5 at 5:30 p.m. at the Vandalia City Hall.