Dane County Moving Forward With Construction of Regional Medical Examiners Complex, New "Green" Highway Garage
January 12, 2015
Joshua Wescott, Chief of Staff, 608.266.9069
County Executive
Bids Released on Major County Projects Slated for Summer Construction
MADISON - Dane County is seeking contractors or construction firms interested in building new facilities to help the county better provide core services to the region, including a new Medical Examiner’s Complex that will coordinate death investigations, assisting law enforcement agencies from a number of Wisconsin counties.
County Executive Joe Parisi announced today the county is seeking bids for construction of the new regional Medical Examiner’s facility along with a highway garage to improve services to the eastern part of Dane County. The projects will be built on land the county owns off of Highway 12/18 at the intersection of County Highway AB.
“Thanks to the bold thinking of Doctor Tranchida and our team in the Medical Examiner’s Office, Dane County is doing what the public looks for from government - - sharing resources and offering critical core services regardless of political boundaries,” Parisi said. He noted a new agreement started the first of the year, effectively merging Medical Examining operations and death investigations between Dane and Rock Counties. In addition, Dane County also provides autopsy medicine and forensic investigative services to 12 other Wisconsin counties and one county in Illinois.
“It’s smart and effective to offer this specialty, niche service and the expertise of our team of doctors and deputy examiners to our neighbors,” Parisi noted. “That’s a smart use of tax dollars and a source of revenue for the county as we continually strive to innovate.”
The new facility will greatly expand the ability of the Office to coordinate even the most complicated death investigations and include the most state-of-the-art forensic technology to ensure work is both thorough and conducted in a timely fashion. This will greatly aid local law enforcement and prosecutors in resolving the most complex cases.
The other facility slated for construction is a new highway garage to improve services to the eastern parts of Dane County. This new garage will consolidate two existing highway facilities and reduce operating costs. Both the Medical Examiner’s Complex and Highway Garage will include a number of “green” features, including capturing heat from renewable electricity generating engines at the nearby Dane County Landfill and a solar array to generate power from the sun.
“With quick access to major thoroughfares like the Interstate and Highway 12/18, this new facility will allow for a smarter deployment of our resources during snow events,” Parisi said. He noted the county’s new fleet of snowplows fueled by compressed natural gas (CNG) will be housed at this new highway garage. The existing CNG filling station located at the Landfill across the road will be moved to this site, and the county will use it to produce even more CNG vehicle fuel from garbage gas.
Combined, the projects are expected to create around 250 construction jobs over the course of the next 12-18 months.
Bids for construction of the two new facilities are due by 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 19th.
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