Commissioners agree to advance design for Liberty Fairfield Building renovation to house Water and Sewer, Development departments

John Favello, principal with LWC Inspires, presented a schematic plan Friday for reusing the Liberty Fairfield Building to house Butler County’s Water and Sewer and Development departments.

Favello said the plan preserves the building’s main public lobby and converts the adjacent space into a large community meeting room while securing departmental work areas behind locked doors. "We're trying to minimize changes to the way the building is structured. We're using a lot of the existing walls," Favello said.

The plan would place the Development customer drop-off and plan-review area near the main lobby and position back-office administration and engineering functions farther inside the suite. Water and Sewer would use a lobby window for cashier services so customers do not have to enter secured staff areas.

Favello presented a high-level cost estimate: construction costs of $2,272,000 and a total project cost of $2,465,000. He said the work would include new finishes, upgraded lighting and electric outlet locations, mechanical adjustments, and new furniture; he noted the county’s existing furniture was oversized and would be replaced. The Water and Sewer area is estimated at roughly 5,600 square feet and Development about 4,800 square feet. Favello said Water and Sewer would work at about 95 square feet per person, while Development would average about 218 square feet per person because of plan-review and public space needs.

Commissioners and staff discussed shared meeting rooms, a common break room and restroom locations, and about 10,500 square feet of additional space in the building that could be leased or assigned to other users. When asked about parking, Favello gave no firm number; a county staff member and Favello referenced both "60" and "a little over a hundred" during the discussion, and commissioners described parking as "not recalled" or "not specified" in the presentation.

Commissioner Carpenter and others said the plan appears to reuse the building effectively. County staff asked for board consensus to proceed; the commission agreed to have staff and the consultant develop architectural design development and construction drawings and to pursue bids. That direction was recorded as a board consensus; no formal vote on the renovation design was taken during the meeting.

The presentation included requests to follow normal permitting; Favello confirmed permits would be obtained. Staff said the next step is to move toward drawings for bid documents and to return to the board as costs and schedules are refined.