Floyd County courthouse, Law Enforcement Center confronted by lack of heat

Parts of the Floyd County courthouse, at right, and the new Law Enforcement Center, left, have been having problems getting heat as the weather has turned colder. Press file photo by Bob Steenson

Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Baby, it’s cold outside. It’s cold inside, too, in parts of the Floyd County courthouse and even in some areas of the new Law Enforcement Center.

The temperature inside the buildings was a topic at the Board of Supervisors meeting Monday morning.

Parts of the courthouse have been dealing with cold inside temperatures because the building has not been fully connected to the new heating and cooling system that was installed as part of the Law Enforcement Center (LEC) construction.

The old heating system in the courthouse was removed to make way for construction and in anticipation that the new system in the LEC would be connected to the courthouse before winter, but like most other parts of the LEC and courthouse update project, that hasn’t happened as quickly as had been planned.

Over the weekend, the dispatch area and the Sheriff’s Office in the new LEC were also cold, said Chief Deputy Pat Shirley, who said it appears an air intake froze on the new heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system.

“They’ve got to figure out what’s going on there, because it’s not even January yet and it’s freezing up,” he said, although he added that the heat appeared to be working correctly in the jail part of the LEC.

Floyd County Auditor Gloria Carr noted this is the second winter for the Sheriff’s Office and jail to be in the LEC, after moving over from the top floor of the courthouse in early January.

Shirley said, “Yeah, we’re way past the ‘it’s OK to have a problem’ stage with a new system. It’s bad.”

Various parts of the courthouse have also been cold without the LEC’s new HVAC system fully connected and operating in the courthouse.

Work-arounds like portable electric heaters, leaving office doors open and using fans to blow heated air from the hallways into offices have had some success, Carr said, and a large portable propane heater that was placed outdoors between the courthouse and the LEC to blow hot air into the courthouse was working last week, until a carbon monoxide detector registered a warning last Friday and the heater was turned off.

On Monday morning, Floyd County Treasurer Frank Rottinghaus sent out a message noting, “Just thought I’d let you know that we have 2 thermometers in the Treasurer’s office. They are reading 52 and 56 degrees as I am writing this.

“Is it true that the heater was turned off early on Friday afternoon because the carbon monoxide level reached a dangerous level? Won’t we see it become colder as the outside temperature becomes colder as predicted? Do we need to look for a plan B?” Rottinghaus asked.

Carr said the Fire Department was called when the high level of carbon monoxide (CO) was discovered, and the problem was only found on the ground floor of the courthouse.

She said a peculiarity of wind circulation between the buildings may have been blowing the exhaust back into the fresh air intake on the heater, and the plan is to move the heater farther from the buildings, but additional needed materials for that weren’t immediately available Monday morning.

There hadn’t been any CO warnings previously last week when the heater was running, and the hope is that moving it farther from the buildings will solve the problem, Carr said.

Supervisor Doug Kamm said the issue in the LEC may have been power related.

Chief Deputy Shirley said they had previous problems with power outages and the HVAC system.

The system has two heat pumps, and one of them has a battery backup and is hooked up to the emergency generator, so if there is a power outage at least one heat pump will continue operating.

The last time there was a power outage in the area that heat pump didn’t continue operating, Shirley said.

Young Plumbing and Heating in Waterloo is the subcontractor in charge of installing the LEC’s HVAC system and connecting the courthouse to it.

“I have sent many nasty emails to Young Plumbing,” Carr said. “I have been pretty frustrated.”

She said the portable propane heater had been working to supply heat, and hopefully moving it will solve the carbon monoxide problem.

“Of course the safety of the employees is of utmost importance,” she said, and CO levels would be closely monitored if the propane heater is turned back on.

Also at the supervisors meeting, the board:

• Approved a resolution amending the urban renewal plan for the Southwest Bypass Urban Renewal Area for a $400,000 property tax rebate to help support a ​​$6.4 million Cambrex expansion project.

The company is seeking $400,000 in a 90% six-year property tax rebate on the added value of the property from the project from the TIF district, plus a $48,750 forgivable loan from the city of Charles City and a $22,500 forgivable loan from the Charles City Area Economic Development Corp.

The economic development package also includes $300,000 from the Iowa Economic Development Authority.

• Took no action on a request for a property tax abatement for Engles Farms Inc. after Assistant County Attorney Randall Tilton advised the board that, in his opinion, the supervisors did not have the authority to take any action.

The Engles property had been reclassified by the Floyd County Assessor’s Office as commercial property instead of ag property, resulting in a significantly higher property tax bill. Bob Engles appealed the reclassification and the Board of Review agreed it should be returned to ag classification, but the appeal wasn’t made the first year that the reclassification had been made and the property had been assessed at the higher tax rate for two years.

Tilton said Iowa law and court cases have said that the supervisors would have the authority to abate the extra taxes only if the taxes had been erroneously or illegally paid, and at the time of the reclassification the taxes had been properly assessed, even if the classification was incorrect.

The way to address the issue and avoid the extra taxes would have been to challenge the reclassification with the Board of Review within the first appeal time period, Tilton said.