ASHLAND — Ashland County commissioners on Thursday approved the use of $1.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act money to renovate the Ashland County Health Department’s new home on Claremont Avenue.
The 11,000 square-foot shell of a building at 1211 Claremont Ave. will house the county health department starting sometime next year.
Renovations will be led by Ashland-based Simonson Construction Services and commissioners expect the work to wrap by June 1, 2023. Once complete, the health department will move into the new digs.
The health department — along with the county’s Emergency Management Agency — is currently being housed at the former county services building, which sold to the Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center for $500,000 following a shaky negotiation.
The $1,731,953.10 price tag on the building’s renovations includes indoor demolition, site work, plumbing, heating, flooring, painting, carpentry and masonry. It does not include the $650,000 already spent on the property itself, bringing the total amount for the project to $2,381,953.10.
All funding for the project has come from the county’s $10.4 million allocation of ARPA money.
The federal grant is coming from a $1.9 trillion stimulus package signed into law by President Joe Biden in March 2021 to help state and local governments bounce back financially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“That’s exactly what (ARPA funding) was designed to do — to help communities,” said Bittle.
Almost all the county’s ARPA allocation has been encumbered, or earmarked, for projects, according to a county document tracking that money.
Commissioners have said the Claremont Avenue building — a former spot for Rite Aid — will only house the health department, despite thoughts it could also serve as a headquarters for the Ashland County EMA department.
The EMA department will likely be housed in space formerly taken up by Congressman Bob Gibbs on the second floor of the Ashland County office building along Cottage Street, said commissioner Jim Justice.
“It looks like it’s workable,” Justice said, adding the EMA’s proximity to the county’s information technology department will be advantageous.
Commissioners are still accepting applications for a new EMA director. Commissioner Mike Welch said the county has received “several” applications since posting the job on Dec. 1.
The position would replace Ashland County Sheriff Lt. Randy Wood, who has been serving as an interim director for the EMA since September.
The county will stop accepting applications for the role on Dec. 31.
