Daudt declines furnishing upgrades for Capitol
Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt says he doesn't want an expensive door or other furnishing upgrades in the renovated Capitol space designated for state representatives.
Daudt, R-Crown, shared his opposition to the expenditures Monday during a meeting of the Capitol Preservation Commission. He also denied last week's news reports that said he had proposed using bonding money approved last session for the project extras. Daudt told DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and other commission members that they will decide how to spend the additional $2 million, not him.
"I do not support spending $15,000 on a door at this point." Daudt said. "Apparently we've missed the planning process and the bidding process to where that would have been able to have been included in the project at no cost. That's certainly fine. I think the space works better with the door and the doorway. But ultimately not having it is perfectly fine with us in the House."
Dayton said he didn't know about the vaguely-worded bonding bill allocation or the recent discussions between Daudt and the Department of Administration on how to spend it. He told Daudt that he didn't appreciate being dragged into the debate.
"We did not request this money," Dayton said. "Somebody from your office or you or somebody came and put this in the bill."
The commission approved spending $6.2 million, which was also part of last session's bonding bill, on several exterior security improvements, including additional lighting and cameras.
The top-to-bottom Capitol renovation, which will continue until 2017, is expected to cost $309 million.
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