Although they tabled action to next week, the Washington County Supervisors Tuesday expect to have a contract this spring with Washington-based Encite Architecture & Design to remodel the county-owned Orchard Hill Complex to accommodate county administrative offices.  The contract would be similar to ones the county has had with Carl A. Nelson who, due to other commitments, did not have someone immediately available to start on the project.

During the public comment segment, which starts business for all board meetings, Karen Bates Chabal, a local business owner, voiced concerns about moving county administrative services out of the downtown city to the edge of town and its impact on the local economy.  She asked that the board take another look at the space in the Federation Bank Building.  The building was offered to the county for $800,000 late last year.

The proposed contract would be solely for planning and design of the Orchard Hill facilities.  Supervisor Marcus Fedler noted that remodeling for the courthouse to serve all judicial offices already is a line item in the county budget.  The project will be funded through the federal COVID-19 relief that awarded the county approximately $4.4 million, to be expended by the close of 2025.

In other business, the board heard concerns from supervisor Jack Seward, Jr. about the consolidations and mergers of state offices, as well as changes for local ones that now follow site judicial boundaries, increasing the number of counties in a region.   It is a move that “has taken away local control,” something that has also removed any local oversight, “that . . .the control is now with Des Moines bureaucrats with no accountability to local government.”  Officially, costs of providing services will be reimbursed by the state, in effect making them “state employees”.  He especially stressed how the move has removed accountability, with no local oversight for either operations or costs.