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Government

Major Upgrades for RI County Administration Building

Rock Island County Administration Building on 3rd Avenue at 15th Street.
WVIK News
Rock Island County Administration Building on 3rd Avenue at 15th Street.

Work could begin soon to fix up the Rock Island County Administration building, in downtown Rock Island.

County Administrator Jim Grafton says officials of the county and Johnson Controls are scheduled to hold a meeting Tuesday to make their final plans to upgrade heating and air conditioning systems, replace old plumbing, and install new lights.

"Because they're going to be changing some of the venting, we're re-doing about 75 per cent of the ceilings and because we're changing out ceiling tiles, we're going to upgrade all of the lighting in the building with the new LED efficient lights."

Originally it served as the headquarters for Modern Woodmen, and was built in 1898.

The county will use some of its ARPA funds for the work, about 5 million dollars of its total allocation of 27 million.

"It's a large amount of money but this building is over one hundred years gold. And if we don't keep it maintained, then eventually something catastrophic could happen."

These projects are expected to be completed in a year.

Grafton says plans are also in the works to use some additional ARPA money to renovate the elevators and replace the carpeting.

Government
A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.