The Oneida County Law Enforcement Center is showing enough age that the county board this week had to act to prevent significant damage at the facility. The board authorized an emergency payment of $120,000 to replace large water heaters used at the jail.
Facilities Director Lu Ann Brunette says the center has three 500 gallon, 1 million BTU hot water heaters, including showers, laundry and kitchen. She says there's been a problem..
"....we've experienced a failure in one of the heaters, causing water to leak into a holding cell directly beneath the mechanical mezzanine. Upon further inspection, all the hot water heaters that were installed when the building was built in 1999 have issues. There's a small leak from one of the heaters. The one we use for a backup, the burner pan is almost shot...."
She says the area beneath the water heaters, the booking area, could be in serious trouble if the heaters fail. Brunette says the plans were in place to do the replacement, but the failures required them to be quickly acted on. The board approved the money to get the water heaters replaced now.
The board also approved spending an additional $30,000 to complete five broadband towers to improve Internet service in the county. The money will go to Oneida County Economic Development Corporation. Administration committee member Ted Cushing says when these towers are completed, a final grant will be sought. If that grant is obtained, it will provide access to high-speed internet across all of Oneida county.
