First, the attempt to push through a new county garage for the highway department on a new site is definitely not in the best interest of county municipalities and taxpayers. If a need truly does exist for a new building consideration should only be given to the site where the current building is located because space is available there. Sewer and water are already there and purchasing additional land in the country at a time when land has reached unbelievably high prices is completely irresponsible and unnecessary. In addition it completely disregards previous positions by the Board with regards to Farmland Preservation. Lead by example!

Next, we believe maintaining two buildings for this service in the county would be much more efficient especially in emergency situations as well as employee travel to their workstations. Trying to create an unnecessary need for a LARGER facility by getting rid of existing facilities is very shortsighted. How many new job projects have we added to justify a new larger building? Our guess is very few if any since we have been "farming out" work to other businesses or counties in the past years as should be done in the interest of efficiency. Consolidating services with other counties is certainly being considered in many cases in light of the expense of equipment compared to the past cost. We need to scale back, not expand costs when they can be shared with others just as efficiently. Maybe privatization of the entire department is an option that may have to be looked at as well. We have done it in other areas. If we cannot operate in a cost-effective way that may be an option. A $1.5 million steel building might accomplish the same purpose as a $5.5 million Taj Mahal. It a garage not an office building!

Finally, on this subject, many feel that the current facility will serve us just fine for the time being considering the financial condition of our communities, state, and country as a whole. A lot of wasted space has been noticed with obsolete or unused equipment stored, which might just as well be disposed of if unneeded. A new building would undoubtedly be more efficient but failure to maintain the building in the past may be part of the reason for that. It has been also called to the attention of some that the WPS building nearby may also be available in the future and be able to be converted to our needs at a much lower cost.

The next issue is the new radio system being considered with Fox COM Systems. This also is a completely unnecessary expense, which does not justify the need for a small area that currently may lack coverage. Several fire departments and first responders have updated equipment in the past months and also feel this is a system which will not greatly improve coverage and does not justify the expense and make their recent upgrades a waste. Their radios are working fine and grants are available for additional upgrading. For costs, which are estimated, to not exceed $125,000 we can be compatible with surrounding counties, rather than spending $5 to $6 million on a new system that has no guarantee of not becoming obsolete any sooner than upgrades to the current system would. In addition, information attained from the public meeting on Feb. 24 showed current annual operating costs are estimate at between $25,000 to $50,000 and the new system maintenance cost could approach $1.5 million with no contingency on providing for this cost.

In these difficult times, you members of the board are elected to do the most for the residents of the county at the most reasonable costs and not create undue burden for our municipalities or us. By acting on either one of these issues contrary to the wishes and needs of your constituents you are ignoring the bind you are placing them in as well as limiting what other projects or needs are encountered in the future. No issue this large should be an open decision for the board, but should be open to vote by the public.

Gary L. Lemke, Secretary/Treasurer, Calumet County Civic Association

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