Commission to ration air, lights at courthouse

Morgan County Commissioners agreed to limit lighting and air conditioning at the Morgan County Courthouse to weekdays only at a budget review meeting with the maintenance department on Tuesday.

Commission Chairman Ray Long reported that two window unit air conditioners are being checked out and will be installed and used in the Data Processing Department on weekends in the near future. Otherwise, the courthouse will be without air conditioning from about 11 p.m. on Friday until about 9 or 10 p.m. on Sunday. He also said cleanup crews will be instructed to turn off the lights in each department as soon as their work is done.

Wayne Lindley, maintenance department director, said he expects the energy conservation measures to reduce the courthouse’s utility costs by about $40,000 a year. He also told commissioners he plans to terminate two janitorial workers and another worker has volunteered to work a 32-hour week, without loss of benefits.

Chairman Ray Long said the department would need to trim another $16,000 from its next budget to meet a 10 percent across the board loss of revenue. He suggested that one way that could be accomplished is to task the maintenance department with the cleaning and routine maintenance of the System of Services building, which is currently being contracted out at a cost of about $16,000 per year.

District 2 Commissioner Randy Vest expressed a concern about turning off the air conditioning in the courthouse.

“Without cool air humidity will build up and that could cause damage to copiers and other office equipment,” Vest said.

“We’ll keep a close watch for any problems,” Long said. “If it turns out okay, we’ll  save a lot of money,”