ABOVE: The Law Enforcement Center, attached to the Martin County Courthouse in Fairmont. The Martin County Board of Commissioners discussed the needs of the LEC during a work session on Tuesday. Sentinel file photo

FAIRMONT– On Tuesday the Martin County Board of Commissioners delved into the repair and maintenance needs of the Law Enforcement Center (LEC) during a work session.

The LEC houses the Martin County Sheriff’s Office and administration, jail and communications center and the Fairmont Police Department. The building gets a lot of use as it’s a 24 hour a day facility that operates 365 days of the year.

It’s been said it was originally built in 1974 with the expectation that it would be a 25 year facility. However, last year the building turned 50 years old.

On and off for the past two decades, and more recently more earnestly, the county was working to come up with plans and funds for a new LEC. However, the current board by majority vote decided in March to discontinue work on a new facility.

During the work session on Tuesday the board reviewed a 2018 facility analysis done by Wold Architect and Engineers. It also looked at the proposed Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and revenue sources.

To start, Commissioner Richard Koons acknowledged that the roof and air handlers need to be tended to. He asked Building Maintenance Supervisor, Luke Cyphers, to go over the proposed CIP plan and touch on some of the biggest areas that need to be immediately addressed.

Cyphers said he has met with a couple of HVAC technicians, one of which is Cress Refrigeration who he said did the air handlers on the courthouse roof.

“The four units on the roof and the two behind the building need to be replaced but the question lies on the air handlers on the inside because you’re changing the refrigerant from the old style to the new style and you need to convert the coils and the line set that go into the large air handlers,” Cyphers explained.

He said that when talking about that further, he suggests an architect or engineer get involved.

“The roof has been bid and rebid several times. The main concern with the roof is age and the degeneration of the rubber material,” Cyphers said.

The longer it goes, he said water can get trapped in between the concrete, insulation and rubber. He said it’s hard to come up with a cost estimate but he believes the number was between $600,000 and $700,000.

“That would be number one on my list and the highest concern because it’s actively leaking in a number of spots,” Cyphers said.

Bathroom remodels and upgrades also need to be done due to age, cleanliness and functionality.

However, he said that windows are another top priority behind the roof and air conditioning. He noted that some of the windows have been replaced, but not the ones that face the lake which is disappointing because they leak the most air in the winter off the lake.

“The windows are probably number three on my list for priorities,” Cyphers said.

Commissioner Billeye Rabbe asked if the bathrooms are ADA (American Disability Act) compliant. Cyphers said the doors are not wide enough and that widening and adding doors has not been included in his cost estimates.

“I have not had a contractor here to bid the bathrooms. I’ve just been estimating,” he said.

Cyphers said that they’re already in the process of changing all of the lights to LED lighting, as it’s required by the state beginning this year.

“The sheriff’s boat access is very unsafe. Going down those stairs is pretty sketchy, but the dock and the lift are nice but the steps and access to the lake should be redone for safety reasons,” Cyphers said.

Cyphers said the showers in the locker room don’t work, but that staff has indicted they will use them if they worked.

“Especially when you get bodily fluids on you or if you’re out on a call and you get covered in whatever, you don’t need to take that home. You need to get that cleaned off in the building,” Cypher said.

He also touched on the rest of the plumbing, which he said they have been doing on an as-needed basis. However he stressed that as-needed repairs are built into the budget, but that a plumbing remodel is not built into the budget.

“A lot of the plumbing in that building is inside of the wall so when you have a plumbing issue in the wall it presents a much larger problem,” Cyphers said.

He said from 2019 to 2025 $70,000 to $80,000 was spent on plumbing alone for the LEC.

“I have that same information for electrical and HVAC,” Cyphers said.

Rabbe asked if there’s money in the budget to hire an architect or engineer to shed some guidance on the matter.

“I know Scott (Higgins, County Coordinator) has spoken about hiring engineers but I don’t believe he has made any calls at this point to any firm. Your guess is as good as mine on the cost to do another analysis,” Cyphers said.

Rabbe said she thinks the electrical bill has been high and she thinks they should have an electrical audit done. Cyphers pointed out that the switch to LED lighting will help bring done the cost. He also reminded the board how much use the building gets.

“The fact of the matter is, it is a 24 hour building. You’re going to have high electric, high water in that building, no matter what we do,” Cyphers said.

Commissioner Jaime Bleess asked Cyphers whether he thought that if all of the necessary work is done, the building would still be useful in 10 or 20 years.

Cyphers shed some light on the longevity of some of the mechanicals, such as air conditioners, and said the equipment being put in should get its use out of it.

“If you’re going to do this, at least get the use out of what you’re putting on the building. If you’re going to do it then you should plan on keeping it for at least 20,” Cyphers said.

Bleess pointed out that that would not address the space issues that have been a concern throughout the building.

Cyphers admitted that he doesn’t have many upgrades planned because he hasn’t received direction. Rabbe said that was understandable and that the board needed to determine next steps.

However, Commissioner Joe Loughmiller asked Sheriff Jeff Markquart what his staff needs to keep the LEC functional.

Markquart immediately said “roof, air conditioning, windows, insulation if we’re going to stay there for awhile.”

Bleess encouraged the board to consider the trajectory of the community. He said if growth is the goal of the county’s, there will be an increased workload on law enforcement.

“When we’re talking about making decisions here, and then I hear through the grapevine about conversations happening across the way in Faribault County, we need to make sure that as we move forward we’re thinking about things in a comprehensive way,” Bleess said.

Loughmiller said he’d be in favor of finding an architect and engineer to look at the roof, windows and air conditioning in order to get some quotes. Rabbe agreed.

As it was a work session, no official vote could take place but the board will likely revisit the conversation at its next regular meeting.