10/20/2009 4:22:00 PM County votes are in on delayed projects
By Bruce Colbert Contributing Reporter/Daily Courier
PRESCOTT - The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors on Monday hired four architect firms to draw design plans for four construction projects that have been on hold for more than a year.
The four projects and cost for architects are:
• Architecture Works will design a new county health clinic at Cottonwood health clinic for about $195,000. Jim Holst, capital improvements coordinator, estimates it would take about 10 months to build once construction starts.
• Catalyst Architecture will draw plans for the Commerce Drive remodel and re-design for about $371,000. Holst estimates the project would take about 10 months after the board approves the architect's drawings.
• Tom Reilly will draw plans for remodeling the existing Camp Verde courthouse for about $500,000. Holst estimates it would take about three months to remodel the building. However, work could not start until the new courthouse is built and the old courthouse is vacant.
• HDR will design a new county morgue for about $187,000. Holst estimates it would take about 10 months to build a new morgue.
In a separate matter, the board unanimously granted County Recorder Ana Wayman-Trujillo's request to loan her department $250,000 from the county's capital improvements account in order for her to buy updated software for automated document storage and retrieval. She told the board that the current system is 10 years old and that Yavapai County is the only county in the state still using it.
"I'm concerned if we don't switch soon, we will lose (maintenance) support," Wayman-Trujillo said. She wants to do the software update during an off-election year.
The board would loan the recorder's office $250,000 at 4.45 percent interest for five years, which is the same amount of interest the capital improvements account earns. Wayman-Trujillo said she could repay the loan from money earned through the recorder department's storage and retrieval account.
"My hesitation is that we are setting a precedent by loaning money to a department," Springer said. She added that she did not want other department directors to view the board as "a bank."
Wayman-Trujillo next asked the board to transfer the records management department from the recorder's office to the board of supervisors. She said she had no problems with the department, but that she thought it would be possible to manage it better under the board or Management Information Systems because of the increase in electronic record-keeping.
The board agreed to transfer the record management department to County Administrator Julie Ayers' office. The hand-off is effective Jan. 1, 2010.
In other business:
• The board agreed also to set transportation fees for the medical examiner's office. Currently, the county pays the tab to take deceased bodies to funeral homes and the morgue. Now, the county would charge funeral homes $125 per case plus $1.75 per mile for transportation.
