By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
EL RENO – Canadian County will pay for repairs to the heat and air system before remodeling starts at the future site of the Canadian County Health Department.
Canadian County commissioners, at their weekly meeting May 1, approved an agreement with Trane for the repairs to the large H&A unit that serves the county-owned building, 6100 E Highway 66.
Trane the manufacturer of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system installed at the 33,000 square foot building.
“The building has sat empty for a few years,” Canadian County Commission Chairman Dave Anderson said. “One of the results of that is the heat and air system has some issues.
“I don’t think any of them are tremendously catastrophic.”
In June 2022, county commissioners spent $6 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) federal stimulus funds to purchase the 10-acre property near Highway 66 and Evans Road. The building will be renovated for a new CCHD clinic and offices.
Canadian County will pay Trane an $8,850 fee to perform a “system evaluation” of the chiller and air handler, Chairman Anderson noted.
The company will make a recommendation to county officials after determining what repairs are needed.
The system “has been sitting without being utilized” or going through yearly inspections – so those must be updated, Canadian County maintenance director Jason Acuff explained.
Canadian County commissioners agreed to provide county health officials a building “they could remodel,” Anderson pointed out.
“This is trying to get us in that position that we committed to them,” he added.
Lingo Construction has been hired as construction manager to oversee the CCHD’s remodeling project at 6100 E Highway 66.
The health department has set aside funds generated from the Canadian County mill levy to pay for the renovations.
The future CCHD building formerly housed Halliburton’s El Reno offices, which closed in December 2019 when the company relocated most of the operations to its Duncan field plant.
In a related item, Canadian County commissioners on May 1 approved an agreement for two, 50-foot easements on the new county-owned site.
“This is to identify where the utilities are located on our property and provide an easement to the owner of the remaining tract,” Anderson said.
“We’re granting them an easement to come on our property and attach to the utilities, to run out to their property. Over the next couple of years, we’re going to be taking steps to separate the county’s building from the other parts of the campus.”
Canadian County now owns health department buildings at 1023 E Vandament in Yukon and 100 S Rock Island in El Reno.
Both the Yukon and El Reno CCHD sites will move into the new Canadian County building, on the south side of Highway 66 just west of Canadian Valley Technology Center.
THAT AND THAT …
Among other business at their weekly meeting May 1, Canadian County commissioners approved:
- An interlocal agreement between District 1 and the City of Piedmont to improve 164th Street from Cemetery Road to Northwest Highway. “I’m excited about this opportunity and think it’s going to make a big impact,” District 1 Commissioner Tom Manske said.
- A title sheet for a state transportation grant-funded bridge project over an unnamed creek on Jensen Road just east of Walbaum Road in District 3. Anticipated start date is not until April 2024, District 3 Commissioner Tracey Rider said.
- An agreement with Warren CAT to buy an equipment fork attachment for District 2.
- Resolutions to dispose of county equipment for District 3 – including a Dodge Ram 2500 pickup, John Deere tractor, skirted flat bed with toolboxes, two John Deere flex wing mowers, and a road groom sold at a Circuit Engineering District auction.
- Advertising for bids for sheriff’s vehicles.
Commissioners tabled until their May 8th meeting awarding a contract to repair the chiller at the Canadian County Children’s Justice Center.
Three vendor quotes were received – 6L Mechanical ($20,688), Jackson Mechanical ($20,910) and Streets Mechanical ($28,772).
Juvenile center officials have requested the work be performed by Jackson Mechanical because this company has a larger crew and could finish the job sooner – although their quote was not the lowest (by $222).
Meanwhile, Canadian County Undersheriff Kevin Ward presented the weekly county jail report showing 208 inmates in custody, with 177 prisoners housed at the El Reno detention center and 31 others in contracted counties.
