ASHLAND — The Ashland County Commissioners approved a number of motions related to the county's $500,000 sale of the Ashland Service Center at their meeting Thursday.
The county plans on selling the service center to the Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center no later than July 29.
The commissioners approved a lease agreement with the career center for the county's emergency management agency and health department offices. These agencies will remain in the service center while their potential future home, an abandoned building on Claremont Ave., is renovated.
"It will be obviously next year before that gets done. As a reminder, we are buying the Rite-Aid building and the health department will definitely go in there. We're still considering different options for the EMA at this point," Commissioner Denny Bittle said.Â
The lease agreement has "no out of pocket costs" for the county except for utility fees that start on January 1, commissioner Michael Welch said.
The commissioners also authorized Welch, who recently took over negotiations with the career center, to sign any purchase and sale agreements for the deal as the deadline approaches.
The deal briefly stalled in May due to a misunderstanding over the cost of rent for the county to remain in the service center past January 2023.
Commissioner Jim Justice, then the lead negotiator, interpreted the career center's proposal as costing the county around $50,000 a month in rent. However, career center board member Jason Chio later clarified that rent would be around $4,100 a month.Â
In the final agreement headed by Welch, the county will not have to pay rent for the months they stay after January 2023.
Additionally, the commissioners approved the transfer of an elevator maintenance contract for the service center over to the career center.Â
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