Dodge County approves jail improvement fund payments; new jail chiller is operational

Dodge County supervisors voted to pay two bills from the jail improvement fund and were told a new jail chiller is up and running.

The payments cover a washing machine purchased for $19,850 and a replacement garbage disposal for $3,406.49. Supervisor Ringle moved to approve payment of the two bills; Supervisor Vande Zandy seconded and the motion carried. The committee noted the request will proceed to the finance committee next Monday for use of the jail improvement funds.

The action followed a facilities update from John, the county facilities director, on mechanical work at county buildings. "The new jail chiller that is up and running, it's complete. There's just a little bit of software programming to do on that yet," John said. He told supervisors two small change orders used about $5,000 of contingency for extra glycol and an added roof support because the replacement chiller was longer than the original. John said the contractor SureFire completed the work and the unit is working well.

John also briefed the committee on related refrigeration work at the sheriff's office. He said a smaller 50-ton chiller there has been more difficult to repair. "There was no contingency in that project that was funded with ARPA dollars. There was 0 contingency," John said, and estimated the facilities department will need to cover roughly $5,000 from its budget for additional Freon and replacement solenoid valves. He said contractors had identified a leaking Schrader valve in the new machine and replaced several internal valves; he expected that work to finish soon.

No further committee action was taken on the chiller projects; supervisors received the updates and recorded the payment approval for the two jail improvement fund bills.