The Marion County Board Road and Bridge Committee has set its sights on a building that could be a suitable new home for the Marion County Highway Department. Committee co-chairman Adam Smith says a property on Schwartz Road north of Walnut Hill is available for the county to purchase for $679,000. Smith says the property has useful facilities and would be ready for the department to move into quickly after some remodeling work. Purchasing a building is expected to be far less expensive than constructing a new one. Board chair Steve Whritenour believes that those savings can be put toward replacing aging equipment for the highway department.
“This is a game changer,” said Whritenour. “You might as well say it would be three million dollars to build not nearly as big of a facility… We basically have something that’s race ready, and all of a sudden, we’ve opened up avenues where we can start doing some serious replacing of massively aging equipment that these guys have to have.”
Committee members noted a downside of this location is its distance from Salem, but they believe that the property’s functionality and affordability would make it a worthwhile purchase.
The committee agreed to put the proposal before the full board for discussion at the March board meeting, anticipating that the purchase could be approved in April. Board members and employees of the highway department will have chances to see the property and give feedback before a vote is held.
