The Knox County Building Committee heard a presentation last night regarding possible cost savings through energy efficiency efforts.
Orry Cummings with Smart Watt came to the previous committee meeting last month to give a presentation about the background of his company.
Through a energy efficiency assessment Smart Watt would give the county suggestions on how to save money on utility bills for county properties.
The services would be provided to the county at no up front costs, and with Smart Watt taking payment from the savings the county would be seeing from the energy efficiency suggestions.
The committee approved the free assessment be done on every county owned building.
The building committee also discussed seeking reimbursement for the emergency heating needed at the Courthouse during days of extreme cold this winter.
Board member Dick Conklin opened up discussion saying that constituents have been asking him why the board approved the $40,000 payment of the failed heating units.
Cody Basham with Klingner and Associates told the committee that there were multiple reasons why the units failed.
According to Basham, the HVAC units triggered an alert of the failure, and the information was apparently relayed to the manufacturer in St. Louis.
The committee asked Basham to investigate why the manufacture did not relay the information to the county.
The committee also instructed Basham to survey space at the courthouse for renovation work for the I.T. Department.
The building committee also discussed looking into purchasing a new building to replace the administrative annex to house a large number of county departments, leaving the courthouse for judicial primarily.
