Discussion yields more questions on state of county courthouse building
by Angie Asam– Staff Writer
With many issues at the Presque Isle County Courthouse from the mold that has been cleaned up, windows needing to be replaced, offices being crammed, problems with the probate judge?s office, the question of what to do with the building and land formerly occupied by Nowicki?s Sausage Shoppe and the possible availability for loan money through the United States Department of Agriculture ? Rural Development (USDA-RD) the county board of commissioners held a special meeting Thursday evening to discuss the courthouse. Chairman of the board Carl Altman welcomed guests, presenters and citizens, ?This special meeting of the county board of commissioners is called to collect information from the presenters and use that information to make prudent decisions regarding the course of action that the county may take.
?I want to reinforce the concept that no action will take place this evening and although public comment and concerns will not be disregarded this is only a fact finding assembly and there will be more opportunities for public comment in the future,? said Altman. Altman then turned the floor over to the co-facilitators of the meeting, Cheryl Peters, executive director of Michigan State University Extension for Presque Isle County, and John Amrhein, district extension educator.
Peters and Amrhein then explained the process for the meeting, the zigzag decision making method. The first step in the process is identifying the facts then exploring the possibilities followed by looking at the consequences and the potential impacts on the people. Peters explained the evening as a starting point for the board and the reason for a facilitator was so that the chairman could fully participate in the process and the meeting. The first presenter was Valerie Handy of USDA-RD. Her presentation was on stimulus funding through her organization that could help fund a new construction or remodeling plan for the courthouse. Handy made it clear that the programs through USDA-RD would provide funding regardless of stimulus money. However, because of federal stimulus money USDA-RD has more money to give to communities.
?This project would fall under our community facilities program. The program is set up to be a loan and grant program. Nationwide we have about 95 percent loan and 5 percent grant on these projects. The average grant is from $10,000-$40,000 and tend not to go towards construction projects as those projects are usually larger,? said Handy. ?Loans right now are set up for construction projects and we can go up to 30 years if you apply as a county, if you have a building authority and apply through them we can go up to 40 years. The interest rate right now is 4.375 percent,? said Handy. She went on to discuss that the interest rate would be locked in when an application was filed. The rate could not go up but could go down after that time. Handy explained that her organization was not there to compete with local lenders and could offer a local lender a USDA-RD loan guarantee program. After presenting all the facts on the stimulus funding through USDA-RD the next presenter was to be Diane Rekowksi, director of the Northeast Michigan Council of Governments (NEMCOG). However, Rekowski was unable to attend and her replacement did not have the information available to discuss ?Green? project dollars grant money that may be available.
Next on the agenda was a discussion of the Nowicki property purchased by the county in 2008. Many options were discussed in regards to the property including renovations to make it work as office space, which Handy said could be funded through USDA-RD, as renovation is the same as construction. Commissioner Mike Grohowski did not agree with the idea of moving some offices out of the courthouse and into the building across the street as he thought keeping the government offices in one building was a good idea. Commissioner Kris Sorgenfrei brought up the possibility of making the building a community meeting space that could be used by the county as well as other groups within the county. Other options discussed were moving the house to a new piece of property. USDA-RD however would not allow the county to renovate the building and then sell it to someone, as some commissioners had suggested. Next on the agenda was a presentation by DeVere Construction of Alpena. DeVere looked at the architectural drawings done by Harrison Landmark in 2000 for a proposed new courthouse for Presque Isle County. DeVere has recently done the new courthouse in Leelanau County, a design almost identical to the one done in 2000 for Presque Isle County. DeVere gave a cost estimate of $6,079,387 for the Presque Isle County concept.
Within that concept were 17 separate divisions for separate subcontractors ranging from masons, to electricians, to plumbers and everywhere in between. Within those divisions DeVere would encourage local participation on the job and predicted that 40-60 people would be on the job site every day if the coun
AFTER GATHERING ALL OF THE FACTS the board then discussed the possibilities, one to review the 2000 architectural plan for possible changes, two to look at the financial possibilities before looking at the changes, and third to tour the Leelanau facility and get a better idea of what the plan would look like. Following the discussion of possibilities a brief public comment period followed with both people in support and those opposed to the project. However, as the meeting was a fact finding assembly the comments were noted and will be considered further as the process continues. The county board of commissioners meets again for a regular meeting on Friday, July 31 at 9:30 a.m.