Newspaper Page Text
The ADVANCE, September 6, 2023/Page 2A
5tje Aiiuancg
MoCo Commission Explores Funding Options to Address Aging Facilities
By Makaylee Randolph
Staff Writer
mrandolphadvance@gmail.com
The Montgomery
County Commission lis
tened to a presentation on
the current state of their fa
cilities and possible fund
ing options to improve
these facilities during a
presentation by ABM In
dustries Bundled Energy
Solutions (BES) Account
Manager Greg Icard.
ABM Building Solu
tions is a contracted agent
that provides services to
thousand of clients in in
dustries such as aviation,
banking, life science, com
mercial office buildings
and real estate, education,
food and beverage, govern
ment, health care, manu
facturing, nuclear power,
parking, retail, sports,
technology, warehousing,
and more. The goal is to
offer assistance and solu
tions for improving condi
tions within their clients’
spheres. The group serves
over 62 governments,
school systems, colleges,
and churches in Georgia,
including the Johnson
County government, Jeff
Davis County School Dis
trict, and Georgia Institute
of Technology.
According to Icard,
he was first contacted by
Montgomery County
Manager Brandon Braddy,
who was seeking options
for improving a large list of
the County’s facilities and
grounds. After a 3-hour
conversation with Braddy
on the state of buildings in
the County, Icard conduct
ed his own preliminary
survey of the County, not
ing several areas that need
improvement or address
ing.
Icard said that the most
important problems facing
local governments right
now - in his experience -
are aging infrastructure,
jobs and economic devel
opment, affordable hous
ing, and transportation. He
shared that in his experi
ence, local governments
struggle with lack of fund
ing for infrastructure, lack
of staff capacity, and lack
of data on how to proceed.
“That’s where we come in,”
Icard emphasized.
One of the key factors
in these issues is the change
in the role of property tax
es in the local government.
According to Icard’s data,
between 1977-2017, prop
erty taxes decreased from
31% to 26% of total local
revenues, which has con
tributed to an increasing
vulnerability to economic
downturns. “Local rev
enues are not aligned with
modern economic reality.
The changing economy has
challenged the relevance of
property tax. Antiquated
revenue models impact lo
cal governments’ ability to
provide services critical to
the needs of their commu
nities,” Icard emphasized.
He outlined the nu
merous goals that the
Montgomery County lead
ership would like to see
ABM Building Solutions
assist with. Those objec
tives are:
• Seeking proactive
buildings and facilities up
grades with minimal im
pact to the current budget
• Centralized HVAC
control or building auto
mation systems
• Managing energy
consumption and spend
ing
• An immediate pre-
Crossword Puzzle
Solution, page 9A
CLUES ACROSS
1. Second sight
4. Standard electrode potential
7. Type of gibbon
8. John Joseph : American
industrialist
10. Manning and Whitney are two
12. Abrupt
13. Baroque musical instrument
14. Post-burning residue
16. When you hope to arrive
17. Sign up (Brit. Eng.)
19. Sun up in New York
20. Employee stock ownership plan
21. Where people live
25. Method to record an electrogram
26. Angry
27. No longer living
29. Simple
30. Swiss river
31. Portion of a play
32. It’s under the tree
39. Wood sorrels
41. No (Scottish)
42. Dialect of English
43. Former Steelers’ QB
44. Popular beer
45. It can make you sick
46. Tropical tree and fruit
48. Company officer
49. Contact lens term
50. Your consciousness of your
own identity
51. “Ghetto Superstar” singer
52. Piece of turf
Photo by Makaylee Randolph
FACILITY OPTIONS — ABM Industries Bundled Energy Solu
tions Account Manager Greg Icard spoke on Friday, Au
gust 25, to the Montgomery County Commission about
possible solutions to issues caused by aging assets.
ventive maintenance plan
• Courthouse infra
structure upgrades that
need to be addressed as
soon as possible
• Funding pathway for
EMS building
• Long-term strategic
plan for facilities
• Understanding cost
of action now versus inac
tion, which could cause
higher future costs and re
duced potential success
Financial solutions to
accomplish these goals in
clude solutions for energy,
in-house staff, contracted
services, major repairs,
parts and materials, admin
istration, lost productivity,
and capital.
To address common
energy conservation mea
sures and facility solutions,
several potential methods
were discussed. For ex
ample, replacing lighting in
facilities with LED lighting
could help with energy ef
ficiency in Montgomery
County. Right now, around
half of the County build
ings utilize LED lighting;
thus, this change would
only involve the half that
has not made the switch.
Other energy conserva
tion improvements could
include building automa
tion systems, HVAC up
grades, building envelope
enhancements, indoor air
quality improvements, and
water conservation.
During the address,
Icard directly reflected on
the state of HVAC units
in the county, sharing that
many are antiquated. In an
example of the utility pro
file and asset gradings that
the company will complete
for every building in the
county, Icard spoke to the
Commission on the HVAC
units in the courthouse.
He stated that many of the
units - 10 of the total 14 -
received “F” ratings on the
ABM scale, meaning that
they are past their expected
lifetime and could endure
catastrophic damage at any
time. The other 4 units re
ceived “B” ratings, signify
ing that they had not fully
completed their expected
lifetime, but are expected
to need replacing in 10
years.
He also provided an
overview of the grading on
unnamed assets through
out the county: 12 assets,
equivalent to 20% of the
county’s total assets, re
ceived an “A,” meaning that
they would not need re
placing for 11-15 years; 10
assets, totaling 17% of the
total assets, received a “B”
rating; 10 assets, totaling
17% of the total assets, re
ceived a “C” rating, mean
ing that they would need
replacing in 6-10 years; 2
assets, totaling 4% of the
total assets, received a “D”
rating; and 25 assets, to
taling 42% of the total as
sets, received an “F" rating,
meaning that they would
need replacing in the next
5 years.
Overall, Icard project
ed that the County would
need to spend $417,582 on
replacements of assets in
the next 5 years, $111,357
in the next 6-10 years, and
$189,580 in the next 11-15
years.
Icard informed the
Commissioners that uti
lizing ABM Building So
lutions’ capital planning,
the cost of replacing assets
would be more streamlined
between $800,000 and
$400,000 over the next 15
years, rather than spike and
fall between $3,500,000
and $1,000,000 over this
time. This is done by inven
torying and grading all as
sets, creating a needs-based
long-term capital plan, pro
viding solution influence
that allows County lead
ers to make well-informed
decisions, and helping to
identify operational, main
tenance, and repair savings.
If the county chooses
to contract ABM for these
services, repairs will be
made to these facilities
utilizing leases, which the
County will pay over time
as it saves money. Because
of the verbiage in the lease
agreements, ABM at no
point in time will have the
ability to “foreclose” upon
any facility, but will work
with the local government
to fund the project.
Upon the County’s
decision to move forward
with the company, a re
quest for qualifications will
be posted for 30 days to
receive offers from other
companies. After those 30
days, if the County chooses
to select ABM for services,
an investment grade audit
will be completed and a so
lution development will be
created.
SIAVO KU So,u,ton • page 9A
Fun By The
Numbers
Like puzzles?
Then you’ll love
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puzzle will have
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the moment you
square off, so
sharpen your
pencil and put
your sudoku
savvy to the test!
Level: Infeinisdlate
Here’s How It Works:
Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine
3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each
row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row,
column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will
appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The
more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!
8
4
7
9
4
6
8
8
3
8
8
9
3
5
7
6
1
3
2
8
6
5
4
1
Harness the Power of Partnership.
We Share a Common Interest in Your Business.
CLUES DOWN
1. Number of players on each side
in a football game
2. Containing salt
3. Reasoning or knowledge: a
4. Car mechanics group
5. Leave a place
6. Southern Colombian capital
8. Old English letter
9. Tide
11. Walk heavily
14. Chemical compound (abbr.)
15. Artificial openings
18. Luteinizing hormone
19. Unit of energy
20. Circular movement of water
22. A way of holding
23. Popular book of words (abbr.)
24. States’ group
27. Dashes
28. Body part
29. Electronic countermeasures
31. Consumed
32. Small bird
33. Unhappy
34. Football's big game (abbr.)
35. Valued object offered in good faith
36. Wild goats
37. Precede in place
38. Small edible fish
39. Notice of death
40. Body cavity of a metazoan
44. Partner to cheese
47. Not around
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