Committee discusses uses for former library building

    The Cemetery and Building Committee of the Washington City Council agreed Monday to rent a room on the second floor of the old library to Washington County Public Health for $220 per month. Public health will be able to move into the room on Nov. 1. The decision came after public health made the request for space in a letter sent to the council on Oct. 15.

    Public health administrator Edie Nebel addressed the committee and said her organization sought a larger room to host a home visitor program known as Parents as Teachers (PAT). Public health currently runs the program from a room on the fifth floor of the Federation Bank building. Nebel said the program?s current location is too small to accommodate six staff members and all of their supplies.

    Nebel said public health would like to use other space on the second floor for hosting immunization clinics, child development screening, and the Women, Infant and Child Nutrition Program four days each month. The committee agreed to rent out additional space on the second floor to public health for $230 per month, which comes to $450 in sum. No date was set as to when public health would have access to the additional space.

    At the Oct. 21 council meeting, Nebel told the council that public health is working with the Washington County Board of Health and the County Board of Supervisors to identify a permanent location for public health. At that time, she said she hoped to have found a location by early November and to have a blueprint for a building by March. She said it was possible that public health could move into a new building within one year.

    Mayor Sandra Johnson told the committee that the old library typically spent an average of $1,000 per month on utilities.

    Committee member Russ Zieglowsky asked Nebel if it was possible public health could pay exactly half the cost of utilities, $500, instead of $450.

    Nebel replied, ?I?ve told my public health board that the rent wouldn?t change if we moved our offices. We would need to have the county subsidize the additional rent, and I don?t think they?ll do that.?

    The committee also agreed to permit Main Street Washington to use the large room on the first floor of the old library for an event called ?Festival of Trees.? The event would be Sunday, Nov. 29 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Amy Vetter, the executive director of Main Street Washington, said her organization would do all the cleaning and would store their supplies in a back room until the event.  

    Mayor Johnson asked the committee members if they knew of any other public entity that wanted to use space in the library.

For the full story, see the Oct. 27 edition of The Washington Evening Journal