By. Brent Wilson, Field Officer
As a part of recent Board of Supervisors meetings, Greene County has been reviewing all of the facilities they are using to conduct the business of the county – including owned and leased facilities. The goal is twofold – to see what will be the best utilization of space that the county owns and to plan for future growth.
To aid in this process the county has contracted with Cardno, an infrastructure consulting firm, and specifically architect Jerry Dixon, a Project Manager in their government services division
This process has included the Supervisors touring all the facilities used by the various departments in Greene County. At the first Board of Supervisor meeting of October, Dixon addressed the supervisors and reviewed four scenarios that he wanted their feedback on .
Dixon identified a priority in all four options is that the courts remain in the existing structures but with modifications.
Dixon presented scenario A which was constructing a 10,000 square foot (SF) building to house School Board, Registrar and Treasurer functions. The Extension Office and Health Department are reconfigured in existing buildings and the Sheriff’s Office occupies all of Annex 2.
Scenario B has the Health Department moving into the Administration Building. The School Board, Registrar, County Attorney, Treasurer and Extension offices move to Annex 2. Sheriff’s Department would occupy a new 11,000 SF facility.
Scenario C has an addition (6,000 SF) made to the Administration Building to house the School Board. Health and Extension would move into a new building. The Sheriff’s Department would occupy all of Annex 2.
Scenario D has an addition built to Annex 1 of 6,000 SF to house the Registrar, County Attorney, Treasurer and School Board. The Health Department moves into a new building. The Extension office moves into the old Health Department building. The Sheriff’s Department would occupy all of Annex 2.
The primary issue Dixon highlighted was the need for more space for the Sheriff’s Department. Several of the Supervisors agreed that the existing layout of the Sheriff’s Department is not efficient and needs to be addressed.
Chairman Bill Martin (Stanardsville) cautioned that the county has several large financial commitments for both the school project and the water impoundment project. He liked Scenario C the best but cautioned that new construction may have to be several years in the future.
Supervisor Michelle Flynn (Ruckersville) also brought up the issue that a new school will be needed in the future. She agreed that we need to get the best utilization out of the space that is owned by the county.
County Administrator Mark Taylor pointed out that some space is consumed by paper records that could be digitized and thus requiring less space.
The next step will be for Dixon to take the input of the tours along with the comments from the Supervisors and come back with a definitive recommendation from the four alternatives.
Brent Wilson is the Greene County Field Officer for the Free Enterprise Forum a privately funded public policy organization. The Free Enterprise Forum Field Officer program is funded by a generous grant from the Charlottesville Area Association of REALTORS® (CAAR) and by readers like you. To support this important work please donate online at http://www.freeenterpriseforum.org
Free Enterprise Forum 
[…] presentation included a study from consulting firm Cardno regarding County government facility needs. The presentation provided a yearly estimate for the […]
[…] recent facility analysis of the county done by Cardo last year was also included in the list of project needs. These needs were included in the fourth and fifth year and Frydl outlined the priority to […]