Audit results are in

Jay County Commissioners heard the results of one energy audit on a county building and gave a nod to go forward with drawing up papers for a grant request that would fund some improvements.

Brad Stultz of Fort Recovery Construction and Equipment presented a completed audit of the Jay County Health Department office Monday afternoon.

Another audit of the Jay County Retirement Center was not completed because Stultz hadn't been able to get utility bills from the retirement center's staff.

"There are definitely some things that can be changed out," he said of the health department.

The most notable of those changes would be replacing the heating system, which was installed in 1988 and is running at 75 percent efficiency. The heater would be replaced with a unit with efficiency in the high 90 percent range. "There's a significant amount of savings, more than $1,000 a year," said Don Crawmer of Sertech, who initiated the audit process.

Other changes at the health department would include adding insulation to piping, replacing light fixtures with more efficient models and installing occupancy sensors to the lights so that they are only on when someone is in the room.

Although Stultz hadn't finished the audit of the retirement center, Crawmer said the county would see more savings at that location by changing out a heater and making other improvements.

"I know the new stuff will be 20 percent more efficient," he said of a replacement at the center. "We know (energy costs) are going to go up. Always have, always will."

Stultz said he should have the audit of the retirement center completed today and would call commissioner Milo Miller Jr. with the results. But even with the day delay, the commissioners didn't hesitate to get started on filling out a grant application, which would cover 100 percent of the cost of the replacement for the heating systems and for enclosure features such as windows and insulation.

"I think you need to go ahead and do both of them," Miller said.

Crawmer said he would speak with community developer Ami Huffman, who will prepare the grant application for the county.

In other business Monday, the commissioners:

•Authorized Jay County sheriff Ray Newton to purchase a new water heater at the jail, since the current one is leaking. The commissioners selected Aker-Taylor Plumbing to replace the heater at a cost of $6,602.90.

•Made Jay County auditor Nancy Culy purchasing agent to buy four new computer towers for her office, to replace the current models which are four years old and experiencing problems.

The commissioners also made Culy purchasing agent to buy a software upgrade for the county's capital assets tracking program. The software has not been updated since 2004.

•Were informed by county engineer Dan Watson that the total stimulus funding received to repave four county roads was $1,449,665.80. Those roads span 18.35 miles.

•Appointed three members to the Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals. Those members are Cherry Geesaman, Debbie Gaskill and Angie Moeller.

•Made Jay County treasurer Robin Alberson purchasing agent to buy a new copier at a cost of $4,100.

•Re-appointed Lee Newman to the Portland Planning Commission and Dennis Rodgers to the Jay County Board of Zoning Appeals.[[In-content Ad]]