The Washington County Board met last night and went through several items relating to the Building Committee.  One item was approved to enter into a new contract with Consumer Energy Solutions for a lower electrical aggregation rate.  They currently pay over 5 cents per kilowatt used with Direct Energy and that contract runs to the end of June 2014.  The new contract would be at a rate of 4.826 cents per kilowatt used and would go into effect July 2014 for a length of 3 years and could save the county $2,200.  Committee Chairman Gary Suedemeyer says rates have bottomed out and will begin to climb.  They also approved of getting some new servers from Miken Technologies, due to the ongoing problems with servers having problems.  This will cost $35,569 and will be a package deal to include licenses, memory upgrades and more.  A contract was approved between Image Architects to begin planning for the renovation of the old Courthouse.  The fee is at 8.25 percent of the total cost to do the work.  This rate is higher than that of the contract for work planning and designing the new Judicial Center because more research and options are needed with unknowns ahead.  A new air conditioning unit is needed for the server room in the new building also.  The whole building was designed with one unit that would provide heat or air conditioning, depending on the seasons.  The server room needs to have constant air conditioning and a 1 ton unit was approved by the Board at the cost of just under $12,000.  Also, the files need a new storage system in the new building.  This will be paid for by the Court Fund for a new set up in new building at the cost of just over $49,000.  This other option was to move the old racks and cabinets, which still would have cost approximately $23,000, but it would still be old, deteriorating equipment.  Then they addressed the need for furniture in the new building.  Much of the furnishing will be able to be brought from the old Courthouse to the Judicial Center, but there is still plenty to purchase.  This will be funded from the Court Fund for the Judge’s areas, the Circuit Clerk’s Office and the Probation and other rooms, excluding the State’s Attorney’s Offices.  The cost was approved to not to exceed $75,000.  The Board also approved an amount not to exceed $30,000 for furnishing the State’s Attorney’s Offices.  The goal is to look good, but also for the furnishings to last.  Finally, the Board approved the low bid of $77,444 to Comm Squad for work on low voltage lines at the new building.  This will power telephone, computers and data lines.