Douglas County commissioners appear comfortable paying to find out more about installing energy-efficient equipment in county buildings to help save costs.

“I’m inclined to say the $19,000 is probably a good expenditure to learn what we don’t know,” Commissioner Bob Johnson said.

But first, commissioners Monday morning asked administrators to work with Custom Energy Inc. of Overland Park and present them a contract for an audit the company would perform on all county facilities. It will determine what projects can be available for energy-performance contracting, a state program that allows governments to finance work on renovations that would conserve energy.

Commissioners will likely consider within two weeks whether to approve the audit, which can take 90 to 120 days.

Johnson and Commissioner Charles Jones said they want to make sure the county can have input in the process if it moved forward.

Kevin Green, a Custom Energy vice president, gave commissioners examples of projects, from upgrading lighting systems to renovating water systems to installing programmable thermostats. The firm has experience with projects on historic buildings such as the Douglas County Courthouse, Green said.

If they give approval, commissioners indicated they would take a closer look at costs of potential projects when the audit comes back to them.

“It just has to not only be ethically correct for me. It has to be economically sensible,” Jones said.

In other business, commissioners approved a new policy on sounding tornado sirens. It adds the issuance of a tornado warning by the National Weather Service as a reason for sounding them.

Commissioners also approved rezoning of Lakeside Vista west of Lawrence from a suburban home district to a limited business district. It was originally approved in September 2006, but owner Robert Voth had to meet conditions, including getting the property platted.