Board of Supervisors moves on facility plan

The Washington County Board of Supervisors took the first steps of a plan to reorganize county facilities at its meeting Tuesday morning.

The board acted on three motions, in sum authorizing the county attorney to choose a contractor and coordinate a project floor plan for changes to the courthouse and proposed new county buildings at Orchard Hill.

“This agenda item refers to plans to remodel the county attorney’s office and space in the courthouse,” board member Jack Seward Jr. said. “We discussed that at previous other meetings, and I think this is a way to get this thing moving.”

Renovations would offset growing signs of age for the long-standing courthouse.

“Our office space, much like other parts of the courthouse, suffers from deterioration,” County Attorney John Gish said. “We have pieces of the wall and ceiling dropping onto our floor pretty frequently … My intent is to pay for most, if not all of the renovation using the revenue we’ve generated from our collections programs.”

Board members said the supervisors’ meeting room would have to be temporarily vacated during the construction.

“When we’re talking about this building, we need to consider this room,” board Chair Richard Young said. “We need to take care of this room. We all know that it’s got to come out anyway, there’s asbestos in this room, and it needs to be removed, and I think we need to address that sooner than later.”

Board members said construction may cut off employee access to break rooms for the duration.

“When we renovate something, people need to understand that we’re going to be renovating,” board member Marcus Fedler said. “That might require them to alter their path on occasion, and it might be inconvenient. I think this is one of those situations where we just have to deal with it.”