Wood: County needs plan for facilities
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 8, 2015 1:46 PM
Wayne County has made progress in its capital facilities needs, such as the jail, but a master facilities plan is still needed to provide a prioritized guide, County Manager George Wood said.
"A year ago we didn't know where we were going to put the jail, how big it was going to be. Would a satellite jail work?" Wood said during a county commission facilities committee meeting Tuesday. "We have taken on the ag (center) business thing and we know where we are going with that."
Still, the county has five or six questions where facilities are concerned, Wood said. County commissioners need to determine what order in which to address them, as well as space needs, he said.
Those questions include the Health and Social Services departments' buildings, which are both overcrowded; the Eastpointe lease at the Borden building; renovations to the Sullivan building; the 911 call center; and what to do about the old bank building that once housed Services on Aging.
Currently, Eastpointe leases three floors of office space. The lease runs out in June 2016, so the county needs to decide if it wants to "recapture" that space by not renewing the lease, Wood said.
Also, the county is currently conducting a study of its EMS stations, Wood said.
"That is going to tell us do we need anymore and some of the ones we have, are they in the right place or does something need to be done there," Wood said.
That study should be in the hands of commissioners by late February or early March, he said.
"I am confident we are going to find out we have some in the wrong place," Commissioner Wayne Aycock said. "I am not confident to say whether we will need more or not."
As for the 911 center, its current location is not suitable for expansion, Wood said. However, he said he thinks the center can be moved to the other end of its building.
Consultants from Mission Critical are preparing a study on the center's facilities, staffing and operations. Wood said the county just received the draft report, but that he has not seen it yet.
The study is expected to be brought before the full board of commissioners no later than Feb. 1.
The good news about the facility is that the state 911 Board has grants for facility upgrades -- grants that the county would pursue, he said.
Wood said he was proposing that the committee do the research necessary to develop a master facilities plan.
Commissioner Joe Gurley, the committee's chairman, asked if the agriculture center should be included as well.
Wood said he had not included it because the county has hired an architect for the project. Also, the understanding was that the county would appropriate $2 million for the project, but not proceed until the money for the $12 million has been raised.
"You may want to revisit how much you want to put into it and how much you want to raise," Wood said.
Gurley said he thought it should be included because once the center is built, all of the offices at the Wayne Center would be moved there, freeing up the Wayne Center for other uses.
Both Gurley and Wood said the county needs to look long-term as to how it will house offices. The capital improvement program would typically stretch over a six-year period, even though commissioners could make it longer, Wood said.
"We may not get to all of these in a six-year period," he said. "But you ought to identify them and have a priority listing of when you want to do these things -- what are the most critical needs. The hardest part is going to be coming up with the money.
"To me we already know we have the jail taken care of. We know how we are going to deal with the agribusiness center, unless you all decide to make a change on that."
Commissioner Joe Daughtery said the county would be lucky to get between $2 million to $3 million from the state for the project.
Another $1 million to $1.5 million might be raised from private funds.
That would leave the county short by about $6 million, he said.
The county would then have to decide whether to borrow the rest or to shelve the center for the time being.