Will County officials said Tuesday they plan to hire a facilities manager to maintain new government buildings.
Officials said they also expect to hire a firm to design a new building for the health department.
David Tkac, deputy chief of staff for County Executive Larry Walsh, said they received and are reviewing 44 applications for the new job, and they hope to hire someone “sooner rather than later.”
Officials said they want to bring someone on board as new mechanical equipment is being installed in the public safety complex on Laraway Road and Route 52 in Joliet, which is 30 percent completed.
The new buildings — the public safety complex, a courthouse and health department facility — will have a computerized maintenance system.
Tkac told the capital improvements committee Tuesday that they want the new manager to have input into how that system is built. The construction team is now labeling all equipment going into the public safety complex, and also will do that when the courthouse is built next year.
“One of the main things that surprised me is that we don’t have reliable record documents for any of our assets,” he said.
But this new management system will have “excellent record documents that can be updated over time and will be meaningful to whomever maintains the buildings in the future,” Tkac said.
As the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems are installed in the public safety complex, the Farnsworth Group, the project’s commissioning agent, is on site to make sure the equipment is properly installed and operating effectively.
That building, which will house the Will County Sheriff’s department, the newly consolidated 911 dispatch center, and the offices for the Emergency Telephone System Board, which oversees the county’s 911 system, is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Capital improvements chairman Ray Tuminello said he was “extremely impressed with the progress,” on a recent tour of the construction site.
Regarding the courthouse, the construction team is now trying to reconcile the building’s design and its $195 million budget, with the requirements for LEED — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — certification, said Jason Dwyer, of Wight and Company.
Board Speaker Jim Moustis, R-Frankfort Township, said he wanted to make sure the new courthouse also was a “healthy environment” for employees.
Every aspect of the indoor environment, such as comfort levels, lighting and natural lighting, will be dictated by the requirements for LEED certification, Dwyer said.
To be LEED certified means the building will use less energy and water, incorporate materials that are not harmful to health and the environment, and ensure a comfortable indoor environment.
Regarding the health department, Tuminello said they are interviewing firms to design that new facility and will soon have a recommendation.
