Photo by Joselyn King Ohio County Administrator Greg Stewart shows a video detailing work happening at the Ohio County Sports Complex during Tuesday’s meeting of the Ohio County Development Authority.

WHEELING — Ohio County officials soon will be controlling temperature levels, lighting and other functions at the county’s new sports complex from home through their cell phones — and the technology is expected to expand to other county-owned buildings at The Highlands, and even the City-County Building downtown.

Ohio County Development Authority members learned this week of the purchase of the building control system from Rovisys of Aurora, Ohio, at a cost of $303,970.

“It will monitor all the mechanics in the building — everything from security cameras to fire alarms, pumps and activity that goes with the building,” said County Commissioner Randy Wharton, who also serves as president of the OCDA. “The good things about it is once we purchase this initial equipment, with additional smaller pieces we’ll be able to control most of the other buildings at The Highlands on the same server.”

Ohio County has purchased the buildings control package from Rovisys of Aurora, Ohio at a cost of $303,970.

County Administrator Greg Stewart told OCDA the county has strived to be innovative with their new construction control energy costs.

“This package brings all systems together under one control — like what you can do at home on your cell phone,” he said. “You can buy a package and turn your lights on and off with your phone, you can lock and unlock your front door, or you can turn your (security) alarm off. This system is similar to that on a commercial basis.”

Stewart also will get daily readings on the energy usage at the sports complex, and this will help county officials to monitor usage and keep costs down.

“We know our largest expense — other than personnel — is heating this facility,” he said. “There will be a system in place that benchmarks all of those things, and will alert us if we are above (a set temperature number.) It will say something is off, or somebody has turned the heat up, because you are now operating at a higher level than you specified…. It’s that kind of building control system that will all be run by computer.”

The system also will alert designated employees to such things as fire alarms, and when a door has been left open, according to Stewart.

Stewart said the county could have selected a slightly cheaper system offered by Honeywell, but it didn’t offer the options the Rovisys system did. The other systems focused on heating and lighting control.

“This system offers everything,” he said. “Once this system is implemented, and the main box is installed, this will run as many buildings at The Highlands as we want it to. It has that kind of capability.”

A box called a “jace controller” will be installed at each building, and it will communicate with the main box at the Sports Complex, according to Stewart.

The technology will also be employed to work systems at the City-County Building more than 10 miles away after a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system is installed, he said. The county is about to start accepting bids for a new HVAC system.