LINN — Osage County Groundskeeper John Kennedy warned commissioners during their Oct. 23 meeting that both county elevators — at the courthouse and the annex building — are aging and may need major work in the near future. He explained that a contractor had evaluated the units.

“They said the possibility on this one, that it could be rebuilt, but you’d have to take it out, send it off, and see if it could be fixed,” Kennedy said. “You’re looking at a couple weeks, a couple months, we’d be dead in the water with this one.”

Kennedy said the county had already installed a surge protector on the government center elevator to prevent lightning damage. “When they was here last, I had them put a three-phase surge protector on this one,” he said. “So you know the voltage won’t get it. The one across the street, when we put that board in that time when it got hit by lightning, they put one in it, but they put it in the car, the elevator part. Where the mechanisms and everything at the pumps, there’s not one there. So next time he comes in, I’m gonna have him put another one in on that one over there.”

Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Peters asked about potential costs. “So, you’re talking about $375,000? $175,000 for one, and $195,000 for the other,” Peters said. “Holy cow.”

“This ain’t something we have to jump on right away,” Kennedy said.

He went on to explain that the courthouse elevator utilizes relays, which are still available even though some other parts are not. The annex building elevator, though, uses circuit boards that are no longer available. “I can’t believe you can’t get boards for it,” he said. “That’s the nature of the beast, I guess.

“This is just something think about for down the road,” Kennedy continued. “Think about a capital plan to save money back whenever we get it. Because whenever we decide that we can do it, or we could, it’s probably going to take six months, a year, for them to build this. When they do this, everything will be replaced, besides the car.”

Presiding Commissioner Darryl Griffin asked, “So, what you’re suggesting is, start a elevator fund?”

“I guess,” Kennedy responded. “He said these prices are good through (2026). I said, ‘We ain’t gonna get this done right away.’ He said ... ‘every year add another 5%.’”

“Wouldn’t that be part of the jail Fund?” Western District Commissioner Dale Logan asked.

Griffin said each building has its own fund, and that the JR60 sales tax will sunset in 2027. “But he’s right. We ought to start saving,” Griffin said.

Kennedy said he hopes the current units last. “Hopefully, they’ll last for a while,” he said. “I don’t know if any of us will still be here by the time we get money for it.”

He warned that a failure would cause a lengthy shutdown. “If that one goes down over there (courthouse), you’re probably looking at good six months, a year, before you can get it back online,” he said. “Every one of these elevators, they got to build everything for the unit that it is. They have to figure out what they need, they have to send it in there, build a unit, ship it out, figure a date when you put it in there, and then shut it down to put it in.”

“The worst part about this whole deal is we can’t take working elevator out and put a new one in,” Peters said. “I’m gonna vote completely against it. Because how do you justify it? It’s working. How do you justify taking it out?”

“This is just something I want you guys to be aware of, to think about,” Kennedy said.

He also explained that a new courthouse elevator will require a new cooling system for the courthouse elevator equipment room.

“There’s an exhaust fan on this one here,” Kennedy said. “If it gets up too high on the thermostat, it kicks on and sucks the air out. There’s one of them over there. The bad thing about it, and I don’t know why they done it, when they put it in there, instead of shooting it out of the building, they just went through the wall and dumped it in the hallway on the other side of the door.”

Commissioners agreed they need to start saving money for future elevator work, but that it was not the current capital improvement plan.