If you have driven by the Greene County Courthouse recently, you may have noticed some new items placed around the grounds. 

Work is starting on installing a new HVAC project and replacing the roof of the courthouse. Earlier this year, the Greene County Board of Supervisors awarded the nearly $3 million contract to Graphite Construction from Des Moines. Supervisor Vice Chair Dawn Rudolph says crews are currently working in the basement and then will be in the attic to place the boiler and chiller units, while also hoping to replace the roof later this year. 

She tells Raccoon Valley Radio that the departments will be moved temporarily throughout the project as the HVAC gets installed, but all services will remain within the courthouse, which was an important component instead of looking to relocate them in other places.

“We just felt that those weren’t viable options. And it’s just best to keep everybody here (in the courthouse). I think, it just keeps the flow of all the things all of the offices (and) the work that they do from office to office. I think it was just better to keep everyone here.”

She advises everyone that notification will be posted at the courthouse entrances and in the main rotunda directing people to the temporary offices for any department that is displaced when the HVAC is being installed. 

Rudolph reminds everyone that the leftover federally allocated American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds from the covid pandemic of $1.7 million was a major catalyst to propel this project to fruition. She notes that the rest of the project cost will be fulfilled as a loan from the general fund that is then reimbursed from the county’s surplus. Rudolph shares her thoughts of not having to raise property taxes to pay for the project.

“That’s a good feeling. I mean, taxes are, you know, it’s a burden for people, they’re high enough, and we want to try and alleviate that as much as we can. This was a good way to get this project done without having to levy a tax for that.”  

Rudolph says some of the other reasons for installing an HVAC system is that the boiler was at the end of life, the window air conditioning units were not efficient and they wanted to keep the integrity of the historical courthouse. She adds that the project is scheduled to take about one year to complete.