Page 10 - Flathead Beacon // 2.4.15

10 | FEBRUARY 4. 2015 NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM County Cuts Costs for South Campus Project
Facts
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$3.98 billion
The amount tourism contributed to Montana’s economy in 2014, the highest on record, according to a preliminary report published by UM’s Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research.
55,000
State jobs supported by tourism in 2014, according to the same report.
$4 trillion
The price of President Barack Obama’s proposed 2016 budget that he says will help the middle class and fund projects that he says have been delayed for too long.
102
Measles cases in the United States as of Feb. 2, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of the cases have stemmed from an outbreak at Disneyland.
Commissioners disagree over whether to save $10,000 by cutting patio from Agency on Aging building
By MOLLY PRIDDY of the Beacon
The Flathead County Commission made money-saving decisions on the county’s $7 million South Campus build- ing project, cutting out thousands of dol- lars worth of items that the architects and contractor deemed unnecessary or changeable.
Project leaders came up with the list at the request of Commissioner Phil Mitch- ell, who said he wanted to save as much money on the building as possible since it came in at about $1 million more than ex- pected.
At the Jan. 28 hearing, the commis- sion went through the itemized list, giving a yes or no on which items they would like to delete from the project.
The commission was largely in agree- ment about the list, except for one item: an outdoor patio on the west side of the build- ing that would serve the senior population using the gathering area for the county’s Agency on Aging program.
Removing the patio from the project would save $10,000 on the project, and Mitchell said he believed it was an un- necessary addition to the building, which will house AOA, the Kalispell Senior Cen- ter, part of the county’s IT department, and space for the Flathead City-County Health Department.
Commissioner Gary Krueger said he believed the patio is an important com- ponent for the public, and that the county pays to operate outdoor eating areas for the jail and juvenile detention facility. The seniors shouldn’t be “warehoused” in- doors, he said.
Mitchell, however, said that while peo- ple may be upset with the decision not to include the patio, he believes the county has given the seniors everything else they have requested, including keeping the wood floors for the exercise area.
Flathead County Commissioners Pam Holmquist and Phil Mitchell. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
Removing the patio and the west-side building overhang that would shade part of it would save taxpayer dollars, Mitchell said, and he didn’t believe it would be used much.
“The amount of time senior citizens spend outside on a patio is very minimal,” Mitchell said.
The patio falls under the “want” cat- egory when considering wants versus needs, he added, and the county has other large projects, such as saving for a new de- tention center and maintaining roads, to consider when spending taxpayer money.
Mitchell said that based on earlier public testimony during which someone mentioned the possibility of a fundraiser, that the senior community could raise the money to put in the patio.
Krueger disagreed, saying that if the county is building a $7 million facility and needs a fundraiser from citizens for a $10,000 expenditure, “we are in trouble.”
“Our senior citizens have been taxpay- ers for long enough,” Krueger said.
Commissioner Pam Holmquist said she “struggles” with the patio item, and that even without it, the new South Cam- pus building will be a beautiful, functional area for the seniors.
With two commissioners in favor of dropping the patio, it was removed from the project.
Other items the commission chose to
change included using different material for the trash enclosure to save $15,000; changing the building’s exterior seating wall to save $17,000; saving $2,900 by using different fencing material; saving $10,000 on landscaping expenses; saving $70,000 on some foundational work; and eliminating $40,000 for the planned sky- bridge because the health department has offered to pay for it.
The county will save $20,000 by not using mitered corners and aluminum extrusions on the building’s exterior; $15,000 by removing a planned skylight; $15,000 by changing the interior tile qual- ity and not using as much epoxy grout; $4,000 by removing certain wall cover- ings; and $10,000 by using different win- dow coverings.
An initial cost-saving item of changing elevators was removed from the list, with the original plan staying in place.
Some other items, such as a $12,000 third-party electrical system test, were left on the list so the commission could gather more information before making a decision.
Given the commission’s preferences on the items, the architects and contrac- tor will work on adjusting the overall plan and bring back the final amount of sav- ings, a representative of CTA Architects Engineers said.
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