McLean County Property Committee approves Government Center chiller replacement, campground stay limit and land purchase

The McLean County Property Committee on May 5 approved three formal items: a contract to replace a failing Government Center chiller, an ordinance limiting continuous stays in the county campground at Kamala Park, and a real-estate purchase agreement.

Chair Layman called the items forward and noted on the record that they would not participate in the consent vote because of a conflict of interest. The committee then approved the consent agenda, the chiller contract, the parks ordinance and the land purchase agreement during the meeting.

Joseph Gaither, director of facilities management, introduced the chiller request and turned technical questions to Scott Fogler. Fogler said the Government Center has three chillers — two 170-ton units and a 40-ton supplemental unit — and that the 40-ton chiller has been out of service “for at least 5 years.” He said the replacement is needed because the smaller unit begins to struggle when temperatures reach the high 80s and provides redundancy if one of the larger units fails. Fogler said the contractor will remove and recycle the old unit as part of the full replacement. “It has been down for at least 5 years,” Fogler said. “They’ll be removing the old unit and it’ll be a full replacement and the removal, the existing unit will be recycled.”

The committee approved the agreement with Mechanical Service Incorporated to install the replacement chiller. The contract was presented as a procurement action; members asked about remaining life expectancy for the larger chillers and were told the two 170-ton units appear to have roughly 8 to 10 years of life remaining.

Patrick Murphy, the county’s new director of parks and recreation, presented an ordinance to amend McLean County Code chapters 282 (parks) and 205 (fees). The ordinance sets a 14-day continuous-stay limit in any 30-day period at Kamala Park’s campground, aligning the county’s rules with many state and federal recreation-area policies. “I think that the measure is a good step towards maintaining the park and the campground as a dedicated recreation area and recreation only,” Murphy said. Member Bell raised concerns about potential abuse of a 14-day limit (for example, leaving gear and returning the next day to restart the period); Murphy noted there are private facilities nearby with full sanitation and year-round services that better suit long-term stays.

Administrator Cassie Taylor presented a real-estate purchase agreement and credited Don Rood and Jerry Stokes of the Highway Department with pulling the documents together. The committee approved the purchase agreement as presented.

Votes at a glance: the meeting record shows the committee voiced approval on the consent agenda and on the three items described above; Chair Layman recorded a conflict and did not participate in the consent vote. The transcript records vocal “aye” responses but does not supply a line-item tally with named yes/no votes.

The committee announced a departmental property tour and set the next Property Committee meeting for Tuesday, June 2. The meeting adjourned thereafter.