Hennepin County commissioners have killed a proposal to add a second wind turbine at the county's public works facility in Medina, saying conditions on the site make it impractical to seek federal stimulus money for the construction.
The action came Tuesday as the board, acting in committee, continued to shape its stimulus funding proposals. Commissioners said the new wind turbine, which was estimated to cost $3.5 million, would have had trouble getting city approval anyway. With the already approved first turbine set to begin construction this fall, there is little buildable space left on the public works site.
The board also nixed a proposal to seek stimulus funding to end use of paper towels at the downtown government center -- the money would have been used to purchase hot-air hand-dryers. But it moved 29 other proposals forward. Those are expected to get a final thumbs up or down at a regular board meeting later this month.
Sailing forward with consensus support were five projects worth more than $21 million: $10 million would go toward converting medical records at three Hennepin County Medical Center neighborhood health clinics that serve a highly mobile population to an electronic format; another $9.7 million would go to replace HCMC's hyperbaric chamber, which is used to treat carbon monoxide and burn victims and is unique in the state.
Other proposals that advanced with united board support were a $200,000 effort to promote the 2010 census. Because so much federal funding is linked to population, commissioners want to make sure every resident is counted. The other consensus proposals were to connect heating and cooling systems in two downtown buildings for greater efficiency and to replace 16 county vehicles with American-made hybrid vehicles.
Remaining proposals, including public safety initiatives and the renovation of two historic Fort Snelling buildings, will get more board discussion.
Also on Tuesday, the county announced that many administrators will take three days of unpaid leave to help with the county's finances. Top-level managers including county Administrator Richard Johnson as well as 30 department directors will give up about 1 percent of their yearly salaries.
The county has a $1.7 billion budget but is looking for savings because of shrinking state and federal support. Commissioners have already decided to give up their scheduled pay increases for 2010.
