Supervisors approve asbestos removal for former care facility

One hurdle has been cleared in the county’s efforts to have the former Jasper County Care Facility, 5245 Liberty Avenue in Newton, demolished.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Jasper County Board of Supervisors, the board approved a nearly $30,000 contract with Ankeny-based REW Services to remove the remaining asbestos from the facility.

“This place has been closed down for 10 or 15 years, and I think this will be the last thing keeping us from our final step as far as tearing the building down — getting what little bit of asbestos inside of the building out and removed so we can move forward when we are ready to,” said Adam Sparks, Jasper County maintenance director.

Terms of the deal indicate REW will remove asbestos from all areas for the facility ranging from the the window seals to the floor tiles, Sparks said. He also added no county employee will have to clean up the facility prior to the removal process since it is also included in the contract.

The care facility was last actively used by the county in 2000. Since then, the land around the area has been used for various purposes – a most recently by the I-Green Learning Center – which shut its door last year.

Joe Brock, board chairman, said one thing that slowed the process of knocking down this structure was the land being used by other organizations. With I-Green’s departure, the current board began acting upon the 2009 board’s report for asbestos removal, he said.

“I’m really happy about the $30,000 there. We didn’t know what it would be, and with the mess out there on top of it, this is doable here,” Brock said.

A start date for the project has not been set yet.

In other business, Jasper County Treasurer Doug Bishop updated the board on the county’s projected local option sales tax revenues for the upcoming fiscal year.

“In the past it’s went up just a little bit,” Bishop said. “Last year’s total was $1,225,700.67. The projection this year is $1,288,960.62 for an increase of $648 … right now, I know you guys are getting your budgets together, but it looks like it will maintain at a static level for the next year.”

Bishop also presented the board with his office’s semi-annual report, which he said showed the county’s finances were strong.

“You guys did a great job. I’d like to thank all the department heads and elected officials for toeing the line again. It looks like we are good to go for another six months,” Bishop said.

According to the report, the county had a little more than $38 million in expenditures and $37.8 million in revenues for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. The county has a fund balance of $17 million as of June 30.

Another item of business approved by the board was the upcoming elected official and employee paid holiday schedule. Eight holidays were selected and employees and officials will get two days off for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.