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Facilities, IT and highway reports: Meade County cites HVAC repairs, IT upgrades and spring road impacts
Summary
Facilities and IT directors reported routine maintenance and upgrades — including a jail heat-pump replacement and delivery of sheriff Toughbooks — while the highway superintendent warned freeze-thaw cycles are damaging asphalt roads.
Facilities, IT and highway officials provided updates at the Meade County Commission meeting highlighting maintenance, equipment upgrades and road impacts from freeze-thaw cycles.
Ben Petraco, Meade County facilities director, said the county logged 42 work orders in February, mostly plumbing, HVAC and electrical requests. Larger projects included replacing a failed heat pump in one jail pod with a newer unit that uses R‑410A refrigerant instead of the older R‑22 units, and replacing a compressor in a geothermal loop that serves the maintenance shop to reduce propane usage. Petraco also said annual campus fire-alarm inspections were completed and the county is installing programmable thermostats in remote highway shop gas furnaces to warm equipment efficiently on cold mornings.
Tony Cummins, Meade County IT, reported the county has taken delivery of ICOM Wi‑Fi radios for correctional officers and is resolving roaming issues so radios operate across buildings. Cummins said Toughbooks for the sheriff's department were delivered and that device rollouts will bring hardware into compliance with modern Windows releases.
A county staff member reported two recent house fires: one single‑resident home that was a total loss and a separate Blackhawk house fire with three occupants that was also a total loss; staff said Red Cross and local responders provided assistance. The speaker said cause details are pending and that some fires discussed were across the Cheyenne River and in neighboring jurisdictions.
Highway Superintendent Troy Eastman said snow costs have been moderate this season but extensive freeze‑thaw cycles have begun to damage asphalt roads. The county continues routine traffic counts and posted snow/traffic summaries online; Eastman invited commissioners to request counts on specific roads if desired.
Commissioners asked questions, and staff said contractors have been engaged for larger projects where necessary and that some equipment replacements are expensive and will be staged.
