County authorizes $10 million addition to Administration Building on Route 31
Photos by Tom Rivers – The County Administration Building on Route 31 will have an addition to make room for relocated county offices.
ALBION – The county is moving forward with a $10 million addition on the County Administration Building, an office building on Route 31 behind the nursing home.
The County Legislature on Wednesday approved a resolution authorizing construction of the addition, which would be about 22,000 square feet.
The project will be bid with some options that could be added or removed depending on the cost, Chuck Nesbitt, the county’s chief administrative officer, told legislators.
Construction of the addition is expected to start in March 2018, with the project complete in September 2019.
The county is pursuing the addition so it will have county-owned space for the public health department and Board of Elections. The Department of Social Services might also be relocated to the new space.
Public health and the Board of Elections use facilities that are owned by Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC. Comprehensive acquired the nursing home and the neighboring public health building as part of the $7.8 million acquisition on Jan.1, 2015.
Public Health leases space next to the former Orleans County Nursing Home on Route 31 in Albion.
County officials pay an annual six-figure rent to Comprehensive for use of the space for the Health Department and for the wing in the nursing home used by the Board of Elections, Nesbitt said.
Using what the county currently pays in the lease to Comprehensive will help offset the debt for the addition. The county also has already been approved for a $3,682,748 grant towards the project and could receive more assistance. Nesbitt said the county has applied for a grant through State Sen. Robert Ortt’s office to help with the project.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in July that Orleans County would receive a $3,682,748 grant to “protect and transform” healthcare in Orleans County.
The funding would support primary care staff from Oak Orchard Health to work out of the county mental health department. The bulk of the funding would go towards an addition on the County Administration Building for the Health Department.
The Legislature on Wednesday authorizes a bond at a maximum $10,063,881. It will be paid back over 25 years.
