Woodbury County supervisors review FY2027 capital-improvement requests, prioritize urgent repairs

The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday reviewed a wide slate of FY2027 capital improvement requests and agreed to begin prioritizing projects in early June as staff presented detailed cost estimates and timing.

Ryan Erickson, who placed the item on the agenda, framed the hearing as information-gathering. Supervisors learned the board has budgeted roughly $1.2 million for CIP this fiscal year while departments have submitted about $2.7 million in requests, meaning not every item will be funded.

Secondary Roads engineer Laura Sievers asked the board to consider replacing the deteriorating Hornick shop, citing “roof leaks, structural needs, inadequate space and an electrical system that is ‘makeshift’” and said she planned to set aside about 1% of the Secondary Roads budget for building upgrades. A supervisor noted that any debt over $1,560,000 would require voter approval.

County Auditor Michelle Skaff proposed a three-year, phased CIP for auditor and recorder offices totaling $200,000 focused on year-one security work: “installing five key fobs,” building secure counters and adding RFID tags to election equipment to reduce errors and delivery problems, with later years covering repairs and workstation replacement.

Building Services Director Kenny Schmitz described urgent courthouse needs, including replacement of two wheelchair lifts (one lower-level lift is tagged out of service by a state inspector) and several roof and ADA projects; he estimated the two lift projects at about $162,000 combined and described additional needs at the law enforcement center and TriView facility.

Dan Heisel, representing the Conservation Board, outlined three priority projects at the nature center — an observation deck ($15,000), a retaining wall near garden beds ($42,800) and a larger hillside/waterfall stabilization project — and flagged public-safety liability as a driver for expedited work.

On infrastructure and equipment, John Malloy of the joint IT consortium warned that a planned hyper-converged infrastructure refresh is climbing well above prior estimates (he reported that a $325,000 estimate from last year has been pushed closer to $500,000) and urged timely procurement to avoid further price increases.

Emergency Services and corrections also brought forward equipment requests (mobile air-compressor replacement and vehicle replacements) and a sheriff’s office presentation later listed needs for a new body scanner and correctional radios.

Procedural actions taken at the meeting included a motion to receive the auditor’s CIP documentation (motion by Nelson, seconded by Bittinger; passed 5-0). Board members said they expect additional CIP discussion in early June and that some immediate repairs (security cameras, AC) may be covered by reclassifying funds from other line items.

Why it matters: The board must balance competing facility and equipment needs — from election security and county IT infrastructure to life-safety repairs at detention and parks facilities — against a limited CIP budget. Some larger projects may require bond offerings, voter approval or multi-year phasing.

What’s next: Supervisors signaled intent to begin CIP decisions in June so approved projects can start in the new fiscal year; departments were instructed to supply additional detail and bids for high-priority items.