Olmsted County's 2116 Building shouldn't be torn down

I read with interest on March 12 about Olmsted County's plan to spend $950,000 to tear down the 2116 Building on the county campus.

This is the newest of the original State Hospital psychiatric buildings. This building has a full basement with poured cement walls. It is a two-story masonry building with masonry room wall divider support beams and pillars — 90,000 square feet of space.

The county has installed a new sprinkler system zoned on each floor new electrical service, a computerized system for climate control and two new elevators. The building is the entry point for the East Campus telephone system, the county data network and houses the emergency electrical power system for the 2100 Building. The panel for campus groundwater control also is in that building.

Without proper maintenance, any building will fall into disrepair.

Don Lamberg

Rochester