Buildings committee reports lower year-to-year spending, jail repairs and courthouse remodel work; surplus chairs to be sold

The Highway and Waterways and Building Committee received its buildings report on Sept. 11, 2025, hearing that 267 work orders were completed in August and 21 remained open.The committee accepted and filed the buildings reports by motion and vote.Matt Ortman (identified in the transcript only as “Mister Ortman” and speaking for the buildings group) delivered the report and provided budget and operational details. He said the buildings division’s year-to-date spending was $951,680.60, about $183,000 below the same point last year; he attributed much of the savings to reduced outside contractor service repairs. Ortman reported current service-repair spending at $212,446.61, compared with $248,570.49 at the same time last year.In August the county paid $29,500 for domestic water heaters at the jail and $17,200 for a north sally port door at the new jail, a combined $46,700 in one month. Ortman said crews are refurbishing 22 metal picnic-style benches used by detainees (grinding and repainting) and that a north sally port garage door installation at Jerome Combs is complete; the team preserved the old door and opener to use parts rather than purchase a full replacement.Ortman reported that the buildings improvement line item stood at $4,756.83 compared with roughly $165,343.67 at the same time last year and said the annual budget for that line is $31,000. Building maintenance materials were at $117,397.31 (budget $140,000) versus last year’s $108,921.10; maintenance contracts were at $113,809.78 compared with $98,491.22 the prior year.The buildings staff said they passed a five-year standpipe inspection for the courthouse and completed the annual elevator inspection. On the courthouse remodel, Ortman reported that Matt Alexander Hildebrand “has moved forward” and approved Cole Jarvis and IMEG as the project architects; the transcript attributes that status update to the buildings presenter. Ortman also said he had located historical drawings for the courthouse and that staff plan to scan those drawings for digital use.The buildings division plans a change to a single cleaning chemical for hard surfaces and barber tools starting Sept. 30; Ortman said the one-chemical product costs about $0.08 per quart compared with roughly $0.30 per quart previously, which he said will reduce expense.The committee also addressed surplus furniture: Ortman identified a set of replaced seating (sitting armchairs and other chairs from hallways) and said they would be listed for sale on Facebook at $5 per chair, cash only, buyers to load items themselves; the plan is to recoup funds rather than scrap the chairs. The committee moved to declare the items surplus and forward that declaration to the full board for final surplus action.Discussion vs. decision: the building report items were a mix of informational reporting (work-order counts, inspection results, contractor payments, project updates) and formal action when the committee voted to accept and file the reports and to declare specified chairs surplus. No amendments, program-wide funding changes, or implementation deadlines beyond the Sept. 30 cleaning-chemical change were recorded in the transcript.Omission and limits: Ortman referenced a pending Roanoke Park management project but the transcript records no update from the subcommittee; the meeting record states there was no update at this meeting. Ortman also referenced Pam from the Illinois Department of Corrections visiting county facilities; the transcript does not include a direct statement from Pam.Other operational details reported: painting of the alley side around garage doors at 189 East Court Street, replacement of admin chairs, and ongoing preventive maintenance at the old jail.Directions and next steps recorded in the transcript included scanning historical courthouse drawings for digital records and forwarding the surplus declaration to the full board for final action.