DC switches priority from paved road between government center and judicial center to computer controlled locks
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by LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — Instead of constructing a new road and walking path between the Dunn County Government Center and the Judicial Center, the county will use the money to install a computer controlled lock system on county buildings.
The 2023 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) included a project to construct a new road between the government center and the judicial center on the north side of the hill between the buildings, along with a walking path, at an anticipated cost of $500,000, said Kristin Korpela, county manager, at the Dunn County Board’s June 21 meeting.
After further analysis, the number of employees who would use the road does not justify the cost, said Michael Rogers, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the facilities committee.
The road and the walking path would allow people to travel between the two buildings without having to walk along Highway 12/29 or merge into traffic.
The facilities committee decided it would be a better use of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to install the computer controlled locks that had been in the CIP for 2024, Rogers said.
The initial plan had been to install the new lock system at the Government Center in 2024 at a cost of $80,000. With the savings from not paving the road, the money could also be used for a computer controlled lock system at the Judicial Center and the Neighbors of Dunn County. The lock system would allow county employees to use their badges to swipe into buildings rather than carrying around keys, according to background information provided to the Dunn County Board.
While some county employees may only carry around one set of keys, employees like Korpela and other administrators may have multiple sets of keys for multiple buildings. Swiping into buildings with a badge would provide greater security, not to mention that it would relieve county employees of one less thing to worry about, such as “where did I leave my keys?” Korpela said at a previous meeting when the computer controlled lock system was a subject for discussion.
There is a field road that goes between the government center and the judicial center, and if the paved road is eliminated, the field road could be upgraded to a gravel road or a lime rock road, Korpela said at the June 21 meeting.
The walking path would still be installed so that employees can walk between the two buildings she said.
The cost of the gravel road, the walking path and the computer controlled lock system would not exceed the $580,000 in the CIP budget for those items in 2023 and 2024, Korpela said.
Dustin Binder, Dunn County highway commissioner, is working on putting together a cost estimate for upgrading the field road to a gravel road, she said.
The Dunn County Board unanimously approved the resolution to amend the capital improvement plan on a voice vote to not construct a paved road but to instead upgrade the field road, to construct a walking path and to install the computer controlled lock system.
Supervisory districts
The Dunn County Board also approved two resolutions to change supervisory Districts 12 and 14 and 28 and 23.
The resolutions are for “housekeeping,” said Nick Lange, Dunn County corporation counsel.
The city of Menomonie has annexed some land from the township, he said.
The land that has been separated from the townships now forms its own voting district because the parcels are not part of the city’s voting precincts. Even though no one lives in that section of land, there would still be a legal requirement to have voting equipment and to have ballots printed, Lange explained.
“It’s not in the city, and it’s not in the township,” he said, and with no residents living there, the expense would still have to be there for the voting equipment and the ballots.
The resolutions would shift the annexed land into the county board supervisory districts in Menomonie for Districts 12 and 14 and Districts 28 and 23, Lange said.
The Dunn County Board unanimously approved the resolutions on a voice vote.
Land division
In additional business, the Dunn County Board approved on a first reading an amended Chapter 16 ordinance pertaining to land division.
The ordinance will come before the county board for a second reading at the July meeting, and the board can then discuss the amendments and will vote on whether to approve the ordinance as amended.
The planning, resources and development committee has been working on the revisions for a long time, said Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing and chair of the PR&D committee.
