Digital works facility sees movement

32 OUR REGION

MCLEAN

Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022

Digital works facility sees movement

BY FREDDIE BOURNE

MESSENGER-INQUIRER

After close to two years of planning and postponements, McLean County’s digital works facility has been seeing movement with hopes of moving forward with a grand opening by the end of the year.

The digital works facility will be a part of a renovation of the county’s Chamber of Commerce’s Visitor Center’s second-level loft.

“The whole premise of this project … is to build a training facility to train individuals in the digital realm; to be customer service representatives for online providers and platforms,” Judge-Executive Curtis Dame said. “Some examples of that might be Amazon or Disney, maybe AT&T.”

The facility is being funded in part by a $99,000 grant the county received from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development in 2020.

RBS Design Group in Owensboro has been hired as the architect for the facility and is also overseeing the design of the McLean County Home Place, the senior services center that is being rebuilt in its original location at 875 Walnut St. in Calhoun after burning down in December 2020.

The construction contractors Lanham Brothers were selected to break ground on the project in January and have been given 155 days to complete the project, which Dame said they are within the time frame as they are anticipated to complete the scope of work by Aug. 31.

As of Aug. 10, the facility has seen movement with the installation of two “plumbing code compliant” bathroom units being inspected, which were originally not part of the facility, before installing the physical infrastructure, while sets of commercial glass storefronts with doors and windows have been installed inside the loft — dividing up the second floor that was originally completely open.

“I think (the bathrooms) have allowed for increased accessibility for the clientele so you don’t have to go downstairs to use the restroom,” Dame said. “(The storefronts) will allow the facility to basically house Chamber of Commerce meetings but you could do a separate training or separate breakout session with this facility. You didn’t have that capability before because you had a wide-open space.

“You really couldn’t accomplish two or three dedicated activities; you can do that now.”

Dame said that other accomplishments include completing the rough carpentry, electrical and plumbing work, demolitions of old portions of the facility and plan review.

Dame said that the month of July saw “significant progress” with final plumbing and drywall installation, with the HVAC rough-in period in progress.

Other plans moving forward include replacing the roofing of the facility, which has experienced leaks recently and affects both the digital works facility and Health First Community Health Center to the left of the Chamber of Commerce.

Dame praised RBS’ efforts on the project, especially considering hurdles they have gone through in the past few years.

“They’ve done a fantastic job,” he said. “I think both of these jobs have been made a little more complex with the economic environment of COVID, the issues with logistics on getting parts and supplies, and obviously the significant price increases that we’ve seen.” Dame said the facility will see traction when there is an upgrade to the local broadband internet and fiber-to-the-home accessibility, which Dame said “will happen” with Kenegy’s announcement on Aug. 9 that it’s partnering with Conexon on a major project to provide high-speed internet to about 49,000 consumers across 14 counties, including McLean County.

“All of that is tied together with, what I see, is a long term solution to providing employment opportunities for individuals that won’t have to physically leave the county,” Dame said. “They can work from home, provided that they have good internet service.”

Dame is looking forward to being able to make facility a part of the county.

“What I’ve been told from individuals that have seen it, they are very excited,” Dame said. “Until you see the culmination of work and all the works and the plans, I think it will bring new light to this facility, and that’s the overall plan too. The county owns this facility, (and) rather than just have it sit vacant, let’s use it.”

McLean County JudgeExecutive Curtis Dame said that the month of July saw “significant progress” with final plumbing and drywall installation, with the HVAC rough in period currently in progress.

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