Capital improvements appear downtown

First Posted: 9/9/2014

LIMA — Allen County commissioners were allotted a $1.9 million budget for Capital Improvement Projects this year, and so far, they say they’ve been making good timing on their plans.

Similar in appearance to a maze, downtown Lima has had construction projects pop up throughout the streets.

“Any time we do work outside, it’s a little more evident to the public that we are repairing and replacing two sidewalks,” board President Cory Noonan said.

One sidewalk facelift is in front of the courthouse, the second in front of the Court of Appeals building.

The sidewalks were in such disrepair, Noonan deemed them a saftey issue and should be finished by the end of the week. The projects are being completed with funding that was appropriated at the beginning of the year.

“The maintenance issues and renovations that happen inside our buildings, be it at the courthouse or at Juvenile Detention, those aren’t always open to the public but when you do move outside and you do see the construction, everybody hears the jackhammers, they see the backhoes, they see the cement trucks coming in and laying the concrete,” Noonan said.

According to a previous Lima News story, the most expensive projects include $400,000 appropriated for the clock tower project at the Allen County Courthouse. They have also appropriated $50,000 for Garmann-Miller & Associates, of Minster, to complete a feasibility study and to develop construction estimates on saving the clock tower structure or to remove the clock tower.

Commissioner Jay Begg said the snow and cold has caused the project to be as many as six weeks behind schedule.

Noonan also said more than $140,000 has been earmarked for three new cruisers for the Sheriff’s Office as well as bulletproof vests and portable radios.

He clarified they have appropriated a total of $1.9 million for capital improvement projects in 2014, with $500,000 appropriated for projects in 2013 but the money was set aside from 2013 to 2014. One major expense will be $253,636 for the final payment on a 911 software upgrade.