Isanti commissioners look at Highway Department building

Isanti County Commissioners briefly discussed the steps the county is taking to produce a new Highway Department building at the meeting held Tuesday, July 2.

During the Commissioner Committee reports near the end of the meeting, Commissioner Steve Westerberg noted that work is still moving forward on determining the needs of the county.

During the commissioner’s meeting held on March 19, a facility study conducted by CBS Squared — an architectural and engineering company based in Minneapolis — noted that the current facility, which is located at 232 N. Emerson St. in Cambridge, is insufficient for the needs of the county.

That study presented four potential sites for the Highway Department: the former site of the state hospital, land on the northeast edge of Cambridge that was called “the Sjodin site,” land alongside Opportunity Boulevard in Cambridge’s industrial park, and the current site.

Commissioner Alan Duff said County Engineer Justin Bergerson and County Administrator Amanda Usher are working on the next steps for the project.

“Amanda is working on some procedural procurement policy components to it, and Justin is working on essentially taking the report and giving it an ‘Isanti County flavor,’ is the way I would describe it,” Duff said.

Bergerson noted that he is working on a number of factors to make sure the county selects the best site for the project.

“Talking with some industry folks, there are a lot of unknowns,” he said. “There is more involved than just the cost of land acquisition; there’s the site work developing, and what is the cost of bringing utilities to that site?”

Commissioner Bill Berg asked how many different options are still being discussed.

“We’re desiring to have an open and fair process for anyone in this county to make an offer on this,” Duff replied. “I think we learned from that procurement policy discussion that we had that the county wants best value.

“In this case ‘best value’ isn’t the lowest price of land; it’s the best overall value based on the components Justin discussed along with the price of the land.”

Usher answered Berg’s question by noting that Bergerson worked with a local Realtor to search for currently listed sites.

“That would give us a cost comparison for what’s out there,” Usher said. “The committee [working on this project] looked to put together a request for proposals to see if there were other properties that meets the criteria for selection.”

To read a County News Review story written about the need for a new building written in 2023, go to https://tinyurl.com/4hwazwa6.

Generator purchased

It took a great deal of discussion, but eventually the commissioners unanimously approved purchasing a generator for the county’s Public Health Department.

Facilities Manager Dan Lakeberg noted that, when Public Health moved from the Government Center to the Oakview Complex, the department left behind the refrigerators and freezers it used to store valuable vaccines and medicines.

“We tried to fit a generator into the funds we had available for that project, but we didn’t have enough for it,” Lakeberg said. “But now [Health and Human Services Leader] Penny [Messer] and [Public Health Supervisor] Mo [Spike] got creative and have found funding for it.”

Messer said using COVID-19 funds will help pay for the generator.

“What happens now is that staff has come over [to the Government Center] to check temperatures twice a day,” she explained. “If we don’t have a generator and have, say, a power outage, we would lose $20,000 worth of vaccines. …

“There’s going to be a time where the state says we need to return that [COVID-19] money if we don’t spend it. So we’re trying to find appropriate uses for that money.”

Duff felt the $51,967 cost of the generator was not worth paying to save $20,000.

“That would be a one-time loss,” Messer explained. “Over time, if that happened several times, that would add up.”

Messer noted her staff was not able to check on vaccines on evenings and weekends, which also will add to the value of the generator.

Westerberg asked how many times the building has lost power.

“In my short time here, I think we’ve had two power outages that have gone longer than four or five hours,” Lakeberg said, then added that once the generator was installed, the vaccines would move from Government Center to the Oakview Complex.

Budget meetings set

The board set the dates for three budget work sessions to prepare the county’s 2025 budget.

The meetings will be held starting at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, July 23, then at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 30, and Tuesday, Aug. 27.

All three meetings will be held in the County Board Room.

Erickson promoted

Randal Erickson was acknowledged as the county’s new finance director. Erickson previously served as a full-time staff accountant with the county.

“Randal, you’ll be crunching a lot of numbers, and we look forward to crunching them with you,” Duff said.

“That’s good — I like numbers,” Erickson said, drawing laughs from the audience.