Facilities director outlines $115,000 priority projects, says county buildings require phased work

Wendell Small, who oversees county facilities and partial recreation duties, gave a lengthy facilities report detailing recent improvements and outstanding needs across county-owned buildings. Small emphasized two priority headings for FY25–26—employee/workplace safety and energy efficiency—and described completed work at the detention center, courthouse and elections office, as well as ongoing waterproofing and HVAC upgrades.

Small asked the board to consider funding three capital projects totaling $115,000: replacement of a decades-old detention-center intercom system (about $60,000), a new fire alarm for the Department of Social Services (about $30,000) after a bid that underpriced the work, and modern access control for the government center building (about $25,000). He said many projects were removed from the current capital outlay budget because the county is on the Local Government Commission unit list and must balance budgets under state law, but urged the board to consider the three highest-priority items now or include them in the next budget cycle.

Small also summarized help-desk service requests since July 2021 (672 requests received with 632 closed, 10 open and several on hold for parts or funding) and described energy-efficiency measures with Duke Energy rebates and planned fiber service to Little Park to support future expansions.

Commissioners thanked Small for the detailed report; no immediate capital appropriation vote occurred, but Small said he would re-submit projects in the next budget cycle if the board preferred to delay.