The Linn County Justice Center has a problem with inadequate sound-proofing between the courtroom and the jury chamber that requires a fix. A suggestion by the 6th Judicial District's chief judge for additional measures did not get commission approval on Monday, Feb. 10. (Journal file photo)
By Charlene Sims, info@linncountyjournal.com
MOUND CITY – On Monday, Feb. 10 the Linn County Commissioners heard from Sheriff James Akes and Public Works Director Shaun West about soundproofing the jury room and the district courtrooms in the Justice Center.
At the Feb. 3 meeting, Akes reported about the sound issues in the jury room of the Justice Center. He told them that the jury could hear the judge in the courtroom and that the people in the courtroom could hear the jury deliberations.
He offered the solution of putting sound deadening insulation above the “cheap” plastic ceiling tiles in the jury room, installing sweeps on the doors and installing acoustic panels on the walls. West said the price for the materials came to approximately $2,200, and both men offered use of staff to install the materials.
Commissioner Jason Hightower had pointed out that a company had bid $4,900 just to do the testing and no work on the soundproofing.
At this week’s meeting, Akes reported that he had met with Amy Harth, chief judge of the 6th Judicial District, about the sound-proofing project in the jury room. He said that Harth was on board and wanted to add a little more to the plan. He said that the final costs would be a little more because of those additions and West would present the costs later.
Later in the meeting, West brought the price for the project and asked for up to $3,500. The additional costs came from additional acoustic panels that Harth asked to be added.
“The plan would be to cover the windows with acoustic panels, acoustic panels in both courtrooms and the jury room, door sweeps, and a denim insulation over the ceiling tiles – which are hard plastic and do not deaden sound – in the jury room. The total for those improvements would be more than $3,300.
He asked the commission to approve up to $3,500 because of possible brackets and other things for the acoustic panels in the rooms.
Commissioner Alison Hamilton asked, “What was the price last week that Sheriff Akes came in? I thought it was $2,000.”
West said the reason it changed is because the windows were addressed that are in the jury room with large acoustic panels on both sides. He said that was not a concern that they had addressed in their original plan. It roughly increased the estimate nearly a $1,000.
Johnson said it was $2,200 last week.
“I haven’t seen exactly what we are doing,” said Hamilton. “I haven’t seen numbers of how much each panel was going to cost.
“I also have had some phone calls of where the money and why the money was coming from the county, so I guess clarification for the public. According to Judge Harth this morning, would have been this is a facility issue and its not coming out of district court’s budget, right?”
“We have to supply a building,” said Johnson.
“However, I do feel like we have a plan and then we go in with the plan it’s $2,200, and then we consult the judge and then it just basically doubled in a week,” Hamilton said. “So I am just concerned. I’d like to see numbers. I’d like to see what we are actually purchasing and I just, in my head, I feel like this is just going to keep coming back. It’s going to be one more thing, one more thing.”
“The only thing that changed, and I would agree it was $1,000,” West said. “It didn’t quite double but it did increase by a third, would have been addressing the windows because when the sheriff and I originally discussed the plan and went over and made the plan, the windows were not taken into consideration and the four large panels, the acoustic panels that cover those. There was a discussion about blocking them in, sheetrocking them and covering them up. But we thought the acoustic panels would do less damage to the building and help knock the sound down as they covered those windows.”
Johnson asked if Hamilton wanted to see a price list.
“A year ago we talked about adding door sweeps,” Hamilton said. “Maintenance is supposed to add door sweeps. We’ve never added door sweeps. Maintenance has them. We haven’t tried one thing and then I just feel like we just get hit with another thousand, another thousand. We have the door sweeps. We did and maintenance was supposed to put those on,” said Hamilton.
Johnson asked if the county had the door sweeps.
West said he was not aware that the county had purchased door sweeps for this project. He acknowledged there was discussion on installing sweeps, but he didn’t know if they were purchased.
“I agree it needs to be fixed,” said Hamilton. “I didn’t know if it was after I had the phone call. I didn’t understand what budget and why. So I think I have clarification on that. So, moving forward we need to fix it but, I just, last week it was a different price. Now, it’s more. I want to know exactly what we are purchasing. And I don’t see why we couldn’t just start out with what we talked about last week. Is there a cost difference?” asked Hamilton.
Johnson asked if it changed the price by waiting on the acoustics on the windows.
West said all it does is leave out four panels. The panels would all still be the same price if they were ordered later.
“Can we do the $2,200 deal first?” asked Johnson. “And see how much that decreases the decibels of the sound.”
“I agree we have an issue. I just wanted to be clear on what we were fixing first,” said Hamilton. “And giving us a breakdown of what we are purchasing and then go from there.”
West said he could email the commissioners the cost. He said he had the cost of each panel and the installation and the acoustics and the door sweeps in front of him.
“Six bags of insulation at $80 a pop ($480) for the heavy denim UltraTouch insulation,” said West as he read down the list, “acoustic ceiling tiles at $439.04 on those, the door sweeps would be $40, and 11 2-inch 72x48 inch acoustic panels from Acoustics America would be $2,411.53.
Hamilton said, “I say move forward with the first what James presented last week, the $2200 and see what it is at that point and then I’m willing to go higher. It’s just let’s do a little bit first. According to Chris, the door sweeps were supposed to be installed, you know, a long time ago. So, I don’t know. Hopefully we can. Do you want to double check to see if we have the door sweeps?”
West said that he would make sure that the county doesn’t have any of this in stock.
He said that the purchase will come out of the courthouse general fund for building. West told the commissioners that the county has a fund for the maintenance of that building that is under the control of the sheriff that pays for items like toilet paper and filters on the furnace. That is a budgetary fund for things that were planned for.
“That’s probably a clerk question. I don’t know if it sounds like it should come out of the courthouse,” said Hamilton.
“Actually because I just got the job today, I haven’t had my eyes on the budget yet,” said newly installed County Clerk Danielle Souza, “so I’m not sure what it would be categorized in.”
“I understand we have a new clerk, but prior to David’s leaving I asked about where this would typically be pulled from, and that was that,” said West.
“I’ll have Danielle look into it a little bit more, but I’m okay with approving the $2,200,”
said Hamilton.
Hamilton then made a motion to approve $2,200 for maintenance on the facility in the judicial center for courtrooms and jury rooms. Johnson seconded and the motion was approved 2 to 0. Commissioner Jason Hightower was not at the meeting.