Robbins block on county agenda

Commissioners to talk property acquisitions; honor 40-year employee

By Herald staff (Contact) | Austin Daily Herald

Published Monday, July 21, 2008

A retirement salute for a “legendary” Mower County highway department employee and possible progress in efforts to acquire the Robbins block dominate Tuesday’s Mower County Board of Commissioners’ meeting agenda.

The meeting begins at 10 a.m. with the retirement gestures that come with a predicament the commissioners must solve.

It isn’t that Charles Luthe is irreplaceable, it’s how to replace him.

That’s what the Mower County Board of Commissioners must decide Tuesday.

Luthe has announced he is retiring later this month, ending an amazing four-decade career with Mower County, where he has worked as a mechanic in the highway department the entire time.

However, when Luthe made the announcement, the dilemma arose how to replace him: either with another full-time mechanic or with a person who would work as a mechanic and a heavy equipment operator.

The highway department has been struggling with stretching its work force to do more and more work each year.

On Tuesday, the commissioners will hear a recommendation from the county board’s personnel committee on how to replace Luthe, who is the county’s senior-most employee in years of service.

Also Tuesday, Luthe and Judy Nelson, a Mower County Department of Human Services worker, will each be honored on the occasion of the twin retirements.

Also Tuesday, the county commissioners could decide on property acquisition questions for the Robbins block property.

The commissioners will hear a recommendation from the building committee on the acquisition of property for the new Mower County Jail and Justice Center in downtown Austin.

Mower County received a $1.5 million grant from the city of Austin and decided to acquire the Robbins block across First Street Northeast from the government center in downtown Austin.

Michael Robbins, president of Robbins Furniture and Design Gallery, Inc., has made no secret of his desire to sell the property going so far as to advertise a “Jail Sale” with signs in the windows of his business.

Richard Huffman, owner of Thoroughbred Carpet and George’s Pizza, is the other property owner.

Paul Sween, Austin attorney, has represented the county in the property acquisitions.

Two weeks ago, Mower County learned from test results the Robbins block property is conducive to geothermal uses.

That excludes a parking lot used by the Austin Housing and Redevelopment Authority for residents of the Twin Towers apartment complex.

Mower County Commissioner Ray Tucker said at the time the commissioners decided to locate the jail and justice center facilities downtown, it was contingent upon the county getting the $1.5 million grant to acquire the Robbins block.

From the start, the county’s announced plans have been to acquire the property, demolish the three-story, 27,000 square-foot building and use the real estate for a geothermal cable site to heat/cool the new jail and justice center.

The county is also seeking the city’s permission to have test borings done on property near the Austin Municipal Swimming Pool in Horace Austin Park as a possible alternative geothermal site.

The county plans to construct a new jail and justice center on two downtown city blocks between Fourth and Second Avenue Northeast and First and Second Streets Northeast.

The county has given the city until Dec. 31 to have the site cleared and ready for construction.