Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

KEY ACTION After hearing a request from Building Inspector Blaine Strawder, council agreed to let him do his job according to the current village ordinances.

Strawder asked council to reconsider a memo he received from then-Mayor Dave Flanary from June 2008 that restricted him from issuing any building permits for replacement roofing, installation or replacement siding, windows, gutter installation or replacement, and soffit installation or replacement.

Current ordinances, according to Village Solicitor Clarke Battista, state that Strawder will issue permits and inspect when necessary for any project that includes demolition, alterations, construction, remodeling, or removing.

All council members voted in favor of allowing Strawder to issue permits and inspect, with the exception of Mary Ann Miller who voted against the measure.

OTHER ACTION

Learned the Second Street water line replacement is being bid. Bid openings will be noon March 22.

Heard the Fourth Street sewer line project is set to begin March 19.

Learned the paving bids are being accepted. They will be opened 3 p.m. March 15.

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March 12 Carrollton Village Council

CAREY -- Carey school board on Wednesday approved a bid of $153,200 for replacement of 99 single-pane windows with blinds installed in each window.

Capitol Aluminum and Glass Corp., Bellevue, was the only company to submit a bid for the project. The bid includes replacement of six rusted window panels, too.

The work will be done by Aug. 10, according to the bid.

The action came during a special meeting Wednesday. Board member Brian Will was absent.

Superintendent Mark Vehre said he checked with TFC Architects and Engineers, the Findlay company overseeing the project. Company personnel said the board could accept the company's bid for the single-pane windows because of the time factor, as the administration wants to complete the work this summer, and because the company was the only bidder for the project.

The company previously installed some windows in the building.

The board had discussed Capitol bids for two other options Monday: one would replace 252 windows with blinds installed in all the windows, for $444,600; the other option would replace the single-pane windows and refurbish double-pane windows, with blinds installed, for $373,400.

The third option, to replace only the single-pane windows with blinds installed, and replace the rusted window panels, was among the bids presented Monday.

Original post:
Carey school board OKs window replacement bid

A new approach on how it cools and heats school gymnasiums has the potential to save the Jackson County School System thousands of dollars from traditional heating and air conditioning systems, according to officials.

The Talmo school would be the first in the district to use such a system instead of standard HVAC units. The proposed system can be typically found in metal warehouses.

Currently, the district uses just fans to cool its school gyms. Some elementary school gyms are warmed by electric heat, while others are heated by gas heat.

Installing a typical HVAC system at NJES would have cost the school system an estimated $90,000, according to a mechanical engineer with Southern A&E the group that handles the districts building projects.

If approved by the BOE next Monday, the project would save the district thousands of dollars because its maintenance crew will install the units at NJES, according to Josh Patton, an employee of the department. The new units could be installed at the school in two to three weeks, he added.

And if that configuration works at NJES, it could be expanded to other school gymnasiums in the district with inadequate cooling such as West Jackson Primary School, Maysville Elementary School, South Jackson Elementary School, Benton Elementary School, West Jackson Intermediate School and West Jackson Middle School.

For those schools, the engineer estimated that installing HVAC units would cost between $65,000 to $120,000 for each school. However, the engineer also said some of the schools may require additional electrical upgrades if HVAC units were installed, which would be another expense.

The heating and cooling system at NJES is just one of several projects that the Jackson County BOE is considering paying for with Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) revenue.

The board cancelled its regular meeting on Monday because of a school holiday and instead will vote on the proposals during another meeting scheduled for Monday, March 19, at 6 p.m.

One item that the BOE is considering is $300,000 in SPLOST revenue to buy remote response systems for SmartBoards in every school.

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BOE considering new cooling system for gym

Crissy Pascual/California WatchAn addition to the Rady School of Management is one of the new buildings under construction at UC San Diego.

Construction cranes sprout from the campus of UC San Diego like towering palm trees in the Southern California sun.

Theres a new engineering building under construction, and a new addition to the school of management. A new office building is now open, along with a new parking garage, biomedical research and marine labs, cardiovascular center, $400 million student apartment and dining complex, and $55 million music center. New clinical research and biological and physical sciences buildings are scheduled to get under way next year.

In all, $2 billion worth of brand-new facilities are in the planning, design, or construction stages at UCSD. The broader University of California system has more than 200 building projects under way at its 10 campuses and five medical centers, together valued at $8.9 billion. The cement never dries on a UC campus, Carolan Buckmaster, a researcher active in the UCSD faculty union, observed wryly. In the California State University system, $161 million worth of new construction is going up.

All of these new buildings seem an odd contradiction in a state that has cut billions of dollars in operating money from its public universities, which have responded by reducing enrollment, dramatically increasing tuition and laying off employees. And since theres not enough money to operate them once theyre finished, theyre further stretching maintenance and energy budgets. At least one new campus building is sitting virtually empty and unused because the university cant afford to run it.

University officials say all this construction was already in the pipeline before the 2008 economic downturn squeezed state spending for higher education. Some is being paid for by part of a $10.4 billion bond issue voters approved in 2006, for instance, from which more than $3 billion went to public higher education. Some is being underwritten by private donations, government research grants and student fees. About $1 billion came from bonds issued in 2009 under the federal stimulus program which the universities will have to repay and $325 million in bonds the UC system issued that year on its own. Individual campuses also issue their own bonds, and community colleges often get construction money from local bond issues.

More importantly, these officials say, the money for construction is kept in strictly separate capital, not operating, accounts. It cant be used for expenses such as increasing salaries or enrollment.

But David Kline, spokesman for the California Taxpayers Association, said that, by insisting on continuing to build in spite of the financial downturn, the universities are missing the point. The cost of construction is ultimately bankrolled by taxpayers, Kline said. Thats because Californias public universities and colleges are now paying a staggering $1.1 billion a year in interest on those construction bonds, more than double the amount of 10 years ago, the Legislative Analysts Office reported in August.

People discuss bond money as if its free money that isnt coming out of the taxpayers pockets, and thats exactly where it is coming from, Kline said.

The universities also have to clean, heat, light, cool and maintain these new buildings, the burden of which comes out of hard-pressed operating budgets that were cut by $1.4 billion this year, including $650 million at UC.

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Public universities plow ahead with construction despite tight budgets

Update: Woman struck by car on Syracuse's Northside dies; driver charged with vehicular homicide, DWI

Earlier:

Syracuse, NY As neighbors watched, a woman standing on sidewalk in the 600 block East Division Street was critically injured shortly before noon when a car struck her, pinning her against a retaining wall, Syracuse police said.

Police have not yet identified the victim, who they said was in her 50s.

The name of the driver, who police said was a 42-year-old woman, has also not been released.

The crash occurred when a black Toyota driving north on East Division Street crested the hill and crashed into a parked white car, police said. The sound of the crash drew neighbors out to the street.

We heard a loud BOOM! said Nate Thomas, 31, who is visiting from Michigan was relaxing at his sisters house at 643 E. Division St.

Thomas, his sister and brother-in-law went to the porch to see what was going on.

The Toyota had become entangled with the white car after the collision, Thomas said.

The black car was stuck to the white car, he said.

More here:
Woman critically injured in Syracuse when car pins her to retaining wall

By JEFFREY SIMMONS/Staff

The plant may be traded for a pump.

On March 7, Bland Countys Service Authority decided to look at pumping Blands sewage to Bastian instead of building a new treatment plant in Bland.

The latter idea has raised the ire of landowners whove said a new treatment plant not far from the courthouse would detract from the communitys natural beauty and raise taxes.

County Administrator Eric Workman said engineers would immediately start figuring out if its possible to send the wastewater to the existing treatment plant in Bastian and how much it would cost. That plant releases treated waste into Wolf Creek.

The county has estimated that it would cost $10 million to build the new treatment plant and install lines and $11 million to install the lines and pump station.

If the county pumps the waste, it would save money in the long-term by not having to hire two or three new employees, Workman said.

A pump station would probably be built near the fairgrounds and not on the county-owned land where the new plant was supposed to go.

Theyre not very large facilities, he said.

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Bland County looking at sewer pump station instead of plant

SCOTT TWP. - About 100 residents and business owners will run the risk of hefty fines if they do not get permits allowing them to hook up to the township's new sewer system.

So far, a little more than 750 users have hooked into the Scott Twp.'s sewer system, an $18.4 million project that addresses concerns from the state Department of Environmental Protection about malfunctioning septic systems polluting Chapman Lake and Griffin Pond.

The sewer authority set Dec. 1 as a deadline for hooking up to the system. Users who did not hook up by the deadline face up to $1,000 in fines a month, but the authority has not taken any action against people who have not hooked up to the system.

At a meeting Tuesday, sewer authority Chairman Mike Grant said letters giving the 100 or so users who have still not obtained a permit from the township to hook up to the system 30 days to comply or risk facing fines.

The new sewer system will serve about 1,250 households and businesses in the township, though the exact number of sewer users is still being determined.

Also still unclear is whether the sewer authority will have enough money to finish the sewer project. At Wednesday's meeting, residents complained about the conditions of roads and yards in different areas of the township, saying contractors caused the damage as they worked to install sewer lines and have not yet repaired it permanently.

Sewer authority members have promised to look into the areas mentioned at Wednesday's meeting.

"The roads are a big issue at this point," Mr. Grant said after the meeting. "Everyone has an opinion as to who is responsible."

Contact the writer: enissley@timesshamrock.com

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Scott Sewer Authority to send out warning letters

On Sunday afternoons, a handful of trailer-towing bike riders pedal through the neighborhoods of Kirksville, Missouri, stopping at select lawns and porches to collect buckets brimming with food waste. The unwanted contents are raw material for compost piles, which any green thumb in the community can use to nourish her garden.The environmentally-minded two-wheeler crew called The Rot Riders has made weekly rounds since spring 2010, collecting from more than 40 houses and apartments within striking distance of downtown Kirksville.The number of food waste donors is growing fast, and the program is earning more recognitionit finished as the runner-up in GOOD Maker's recent GOOD Citizenship challenge.

Inspired by a Northampton, Massachusetts wastecollection company called Pedal People, cofounders Jonathan Lessing, Rodery Riney, and Allison Sissom developed the idea for Rot Riders as a project for a student-led grassroots environmentalism course at the local college, Truman State University. Now a community-centered group, Rot Riders involves a pack of five core riders, plus or minus a few volunteers, who break up into pairs, divide the route, and collect buckets of compost left on porches. The rotting goods are taken to Trumans University Farm compost pile, where they're mixed with other ingredients like campus food waste, leaves, straw, sawdust and manure. The resulting compost takes roughly three months to break down and is made available to all local gardeners.

Crew member Kyle LaVelle says getting involved in Rot Riders is easyall that's needed is an ice cream bucket or other container to hold the organic waste.I was initially drawn to the idea of the Rot Riders [as] community action to close the broken nutrient cycle in our soil, he says. I've stayed motivated because we keep things fun. My hope is that more people will get involved, with our project or in their own. And the concept serves as a model for smaller communities where public works may not yet have gotten on board with municipal composting.

Though most of the riders are Truman State students, the team is looking for volunteers to expand their crew. Bikers, organic waste collectors, and composters are all welcomeall you need to do is send an email torotriders@kvpermaculture.org.

The rest is here:
'The Rot Riders' Bike for Compost

For the members of Central Schwenkfelder Church in Worcester, the idea of building a Community Center for the congregation and community has been in the works for nearly 40 years.

However, the dream became a reality in September of 2011 and on Saturday the community was welcome to learn about Central Community Center and experience its amenities themselves during an open house.

The idea of building this center was talked about when I was a kid here, said Lauren Rieger, a member of the congregation since she was 2 years old. Although I didnt get to use it when I was a kid, I get to see it in good use with my boys who are ages 13, 9 and 5. It is a fabulous place.

The 17,000 square-foot facility sits behind the church on Steelman Road and provides services to church groups, sports clubs, local musicians and much more.

About three or four years ago the church really started talking about making this wish a reality, said Central Schwenkfelder Church Activities Coordinator Juli Apple. At such a tough economic time, we wanted to make sure we were able to do this without financing the building.

A community center committee was created and the group decided to press forward with their planning if the church was able to support 80 percent of the funds after submitting for permits within the township and county.

A combination of faith and dedication came together as church member Allen Koehler described it, stating that the church was able to collect $1.7 million in less than a year to complete the project.

The church, community, friends and family all came together to make this happen, Koehler said. God will use this in many different ways.

Koehler, whom the building is dedicated to, is correct about the building being used for many groups, including the churchs youth ministries, the YMCA Lansdale branch, Towamencin Youth Association, Montgomery County Special Olympics and CAL Sports Academy. Continued...

The Central Community Center contains a multi-sport gymnasium, two classrooms, a lounge and kitchenette.

See original here:
VIDEO: Central Schwenkfelder Church invites public to see new community center

Posted: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 9:00 am | Updated: 4:57 pm, Tue Mar 13, 2012.

Completion of the new sanctuary at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Washington is months away.

The Rev. Mark Bangert, who has served as pastor of the church since 1992, told The Missourian Monday that the building should be completed by the end of June or midsummer.

The exterior work is mostly finished with the exception of spires that match the existing church that still need to be delivered and placed, the Rev. Bangert said.

The new entrance to the sanctuary will be located on the south side near the parking lot and will have a covered entrance, the pastor said.

The western wall of the new sanctuary on the main level will stand 51 feet tall, but the inside finished height will be about 43 feet.

Drywall on the inside of the church is nearly done, he said, and crews are starting work on painting the walls and ceilings.

There will be new art for the sanctuary as well as a new stained-glass window above the altar.

Also old stained glass is being rehabbed and will be used in the new church, he said.

Additionally, two new statues on the outside of the building will be placed.

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New Immanuel Lutheran Church Sanctuary to Be Completed by Midsummer