Budget shows new roads, jail improvements

This year, Highlands County will improve its jail and build new streets.

The information was revealed Tuesday in the county's 10-year capital financial strategy.

Lake Placid will see new construction this fiscal year, and Stryker Road will be improved in Avon Park.

"The thing you have to know about some of these projects is that they're not fully funded," said County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete.

The money is there for Grigsby Road. Developer Alan Grigsby has promised to contribute $150,000. Another $172,786 will come from the local option sales tax, and the county is contributing $402,214.

The county will build Grigsby from Tangerine to Deanna. In later years, the road will be finished from Deanna to Catfish Creek Road.

Grigsby Road is where the proposed Lake Placid Civic Center will go, Gavarrete said. "That's why we need to build the road."

If there is enough impact fee money, Heartland Boulevard - formerly known as Pendarvis Road - will be four-laned from U.S. 27, past the post office, to Main Avenue in Lake Placid.

Impact fees were suspended last summer by the county commissioners. In Tuesday's meeting, Commissioner Barbara Stewart said she couldn't imagine that three commissioners would vote to reinstate impact fees, but Chairman Don Bates pointed out that impact fees automatically will be reinstated unless the commissioners act.

Tangerine Drive, west Lake Placid Road, will have $1.7 million worth of improvements in years 2012-2016, according to the budget. That three-laning project isn't fully funded, Gavarrete said.

Stryker Road, which crosses U.S. 27 in northern Avon Park, will be four-laned, Gavarrete said. About $740,000 will be spent on designs in years 2012 and 2014. There is no money yet for construction, he said.

Sebring Parkway Phase II is slated to be finished in 2016-17. Eventually, the entire Sebring Parkway will be four- or five-laned, but the final portion is from Youth Care Lane to U.S. 27.

Construction on Phase III, from the 90-degree turn in Sebring to College Drive in Avon Park, won't start for 18 months, Gavarrete said. The county is currently negotiating for right-of-way at the College Drive intersection.

However, the $1.25 million promised by the state has been traded for $3 million in the next fiscal year, Gavarrete said. The state called and offered a deal, which the county administrator thought was a no-brainer, Gavarrete said.

Sheriff's office

At the jail, Sheriff Susan Benton doesn't know if the fire suppression system in the $2 million E-911 radio room works anymore. The air-conditioning chiller is at the end of its life, the wiring violates the electrical code, and the A/C duct work is a breeding ground for mold and bacteria.

Benton has been telling the county commission about those problems for years. On Tuesday, commissions voted for $1.365 million to fix the problems.

Even so, the sheriff said, the money won't make the too-narrow halls ADA compliant; it won't fix the backed-up plumbing and the smell.

Sewer gas is the most noxious problem. It gets trapped under the floors, and isn't properly vented outside, Information Services Administrator Robert Jordan explained. The only sewer fix, Benton has been told, is to demolish the concrete floors.

The million-dollar fix might improve the air quality, which Benton calls "thick and sticky." Employees complain regularly that the 40-year-old air ducts may be making them sick; Benton believes them because she sneezes and hacks for 30 minutes after she arrives at the office. However, she's sure the air handlers are inadequate because of the temperature extremes between offices.

In a 29-page presentation released in August, Benton included letters and estimates from architect Chastain Skillman, engineer Pyramid of Tampa, fire system experts SimplexGrinnell of Boca Raton, and C&C Plumbing.

The problem with the E-911 fire suppression system is that it's so obsolete, even SimplexGrinnell isn't sure it will work the next time, said Jordan. If a halon system detects a fire, it forces halon gas into the room; the gas forces out oxygen, and the fire dies.

The problem, said Chief of Staff Lisa Burley, is that parts of the 30-year-old system aren't even made anymore. If they test the system to find out if it works, then it's empty - forever.

"We don't know if it will deploy," Burley said. Benton and Jordan nodded in agreement. "And if it does, it's dead, because we can't regenerate it."

A new water-sprinkler system isn't a viable solution, since it'll destroy the radios and computers.

There are 35 air conditioning units in the jail and sheriff's offices. The existing A/C water chiller system is at the end of its useful life, Burley wrote in an Aug. 20 report. "The indoor air handlers are rusting and in poor condition due to age."

The computer servers at the sheriff's office are also outdated. Work has already begun there.

"We are already experiencing problems with the existing servers so we moved forward with the cabling on the second floor with our own staff," Burley said. "The next and most immediate step is to replace the fire suppression system and then all the other retrofits items will be done simultaneously."

About $400,000 of the $1.365 million goes to the backup E-911 center, located at Emergency Operations Center on George Boulevard.

The total cost to fix most of the problems is about $2.7 million. Benton and Burley are seeking grants to share the cost.