Published: November 10, 2009 08:33 pm      

Board OKs elevator repair money

DANVILLE — Vermilion County Board members approved preliminary money Tuesday to go toward the repair of the courthouse annex elevator.

The emergency ordinance calls for up to $75,000 to be spent on the building’s sole elevator.

County Board Chairman Jim McMahon said the county has received one bid and is awaiting another on the project. The $75,000 total is an educated guess on repair costs put together by the county, he said.

The annex elevator — which is almost 50 years old — broke down a week ago Monday and recent estimations put the potential repair time at as much as seven weeks.

McMahon said on Monday that he expects to have a solid cost figure in the next three days.

If the bids runs more than the $75,000 approved by the board on Tuesday, McMahon said he would have to return to the board for the remainder.

Simply putting in a new elevator system could run as high as $250,000 and leave the county without the elevator for as much as eight months.

In order to deal requirements under Americans with Disabilities Act, the county has instituted several changes at the annex to allow access to upper floor offices, such as the supervisor of assessments. In addition, county board and committee meetings will be conducted off site.

McMahon has said the breakdown is a “wake up call” to start looking at the elevators both in the annex and the two elevators used in the county courthouse.

Long-term plans — which could run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars — will be looked at for each building.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, county board members approved a grant for $400,000 for work on the Allerton-Sidell Road.

Transportation Committee chairman Terry Stal said the grant is only part of funds needed for a blacktop overlay, bringing the road up to expectations. Money leftover from when the county took over the road from the state several years ago will be used as well as up to $250,000 in current spending from the county. Federal TARP funds are also being pursued.