By Sterling McGinn
The majority of the Luce County Government Building parking lot has been reopened to traffic following a temporary closure due to stability issues, though a small portion remains barricaded until repair work is done. The item was discussed at the regular monthly meeting of the Luce County Commissioners on Tuesday, July 16.
The meeting opened with a moment of silence for former Luce County Sheriff, commissioner and 911 Coordinator Kevin Erickson, who died on July 10.
Commission Chair Michelle Clark said engineers from a firm called Cardinal inspected the parking lot the day of the meeting and determined the back section of the parking lot and the driveway by the sheriff’s office was safe to use.
The affected area is between the Historical Society building and the Government Building.
“It needs to be opened up and it can be dug out to fix the weak spot,” Clark said.
A number of weeks ago, a sink hole began to appear near the storm drain between the Historical Society building and the Government Building. The entire parking area was closed for the safety of visitors and employees.
The situation is not covered by the county’s insurance.
The board also appointed a temporary building, planning and zoning administrator while Mark Rivard is on medical leave. The position will only be filled until Rivard returns to the office. After discussion, the board voted to appoint Dennis Alberts to the temporary position, which did not need to be posted because it is not permanent and because Rivard is a contract employee of the county.
In other news, the commission approved the bid for the roof project for the Pines building in downtown Newberry. The building, which suffered from significant water damage due to a roof issue, was given a blight elimination grant to clean and secure it.
The building is now owned by Marissa Metcalf. The county and the EDC are administering the grant.
The bid was awarded that night to Eurich Home Improvement for the roof totaling $24,895 and building package bid totaling $69,875.00. Eurich’s work was already underway before the bid was approved, though that was not mentioned at the meeting.
