The Knox County board unanimously approved emergency replacement of the heat boiler at the Mary Davis Juvenile Detention Home, while some urged the board to address infrastructure issues before they advance to emergency status.
The estimated cost of replacing the boiler is $300,000, plus billed time and materials.
Because the boiler replacement was deemed an emergency, the project is not going out for bid and will be handled by Mechanical Service Inc., which has the county’s current maintenance repair contract.
“If it could have held on another two months, it would have been handled with the performance contracting for facility repair [and] upgrades as planned by the board,” said Board Chair Jared Hawkinson, R-District 4.
The Mary Davis Home has two heating boilers, but one is not operational.
Hawkinson said he was notified by MSI last week the other boiler has disintegrating metal and steam spraying out of cracks and holes.
“If the heat system was to fail because it crumbles or it blows a pipe, then there is no facility heat at all,” Hawkinson said.
The Mary Davis Home is one of 15 county juvenile detention centers in Illinois. It is affiliated with Knox County but under the jurisdiction of the Ninth Judicial Circuit.
Hawkinson said he spoke with Chief Judge Raymond Cavanaugh, who advised to move forward with the replacement.
The Mary Davis Home is currently being sued in federal court over the use of confinement and other conditions and in Knox County over allegations of abuse more than a decade ago.
“Given the circumstances with litigation currently at the Mary Davis Home, I really don't want to add another item to the list on something that we were aware of and fail to take action,” Hawkinson said.
He said if the heating system failed, the facility would close, leading to loss of income to the county. The Mary Davis Home primarily houses youth from the Ninth and Fourteenth judicial circuits, but will take youth from all over the state.
Cheryl Nache, D-District 1, said she’s been on the board for a long time —and the board has been talking about this boiler system for a long time.
“We've kicked the can down the road. We need to be responsible to our constituents and fix it when we can do things the right way,” she said. “So this time, yes, it's an emergency. We don't have an option. But the next time something like this comes up, let's make sure we start then.”
Pam Davidson, D-District 3, said county elected officials need to do better.
“You're always gonna have emergency issues, but you shouldn't have emergency issues on something that you already know about. So I'm going to be voting yes, but it's just wrong what we're doing as elected officials,” Davidson said.
Hawkinson said he agrees with not kicking the can down the road, which is why the county moved to performance contracting three years ago and started going facility to facility to determine needs.
“And here we are,” Hawkinson said. “We had it as a plan, as a priority. And again we just didn’t make it that far. It’s going to break.”
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