The Marion County Board’s Building Committee Thursday night reviewed building needs still to be completed and the possible purchase of the Modern Woodman building.
Building Committee Chair Dr. Creighton Engel questions if the county can afford to purchase the Modern Woodman building with all the other demands on needs in existing buildings.
“We’re getting our financial house in order, but we have a lot of things that we are committed to already, and that is the scary part to me, it really is. It would be nice to own it. The Moose building could be finished off with a few things without a whole lot of money, another wall whatever.”
Engel says major improvements are needed at the law enforcement center, public service building, and the courthouse on top of the more than $ 7 million dollars already spent through federal COVID relief money. He notes they also still need to do something with the county parking lot in the 200 block of North Poplar that could be a more than one million dollar project. The Marion County Highway Department building is also in need of major repair or relocation, but Engel says that money can come from motor fuel tax funds.
Supervisor of Assessments Mark Miller notes parts of the Modern Woodman building not immediately needed could be leased out as offices to help pay the expected $200,000 purchase cost.
“You already have $800 in rent that could help offset your monthly expenses. There are a lot of small offices on the east side. I think you can easily find tenants glad to rent like these three folks now do. That is the unique benefit of this building to another.”
Circuit Clerk Tiffany Schicker feels the purchase should be studied as part of a long-term plan because the building won’t always be available.
“If it wasn’t on the market we could be looking at some of these other things and prioritizing. But now because it is in the market it’s like okay should we take a look at this in conjunction with everything else? Because I think the points you made I think are great points. We have all of this stuff, but should we also be looking at this area on his can fold in or not fold in, is it going to work out, not work out, do we see any need for it in the future.”
The full county board is expected to vote at its Tuesday meeting if they want to spend about $1,500 to have a building inspector go through the building and see what issues the county board would face if they made the purchase.
