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Madison County outlines multi-site government campus plan for health, EMS, roads and recreation
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Summary
County commissioners described a coordinated plan to build a new health department, relocate EMS, repurpose the current EMS station for road and water departments, and construct a covered recreation facility, while sequencing work to free up space and minimize costs.
At a Nov. 14 retreat, Madison County commissioners reviewed a multi-site facilities plan that would relocate the health department into a downtown 4.5-acre tract adjacent to City Hall, build a new EMS station near the county radio tower, and repurpose the current EMS building for the road and water departments.
"I still like the location, but because of the health department, I feel like it would be better served to bring it up here in town," said Speaker 1, describing a plan to reuse the existing health department footprint and drawings to reduce cost. County staff said the current health department footprint is about 7,800 square feet and that many interior cabinets and doors could be reused.
Commissioners highlighted operational reasons for the EMS move: the county’s emergency communications rely on proximity to an existing 180-foot tower, and Speaker 1 recommended potholing candidate sites to check for landfill contamination or other subsurface constraints before committing to construction.
If EMS relocates, the plan calls for converting the existing EMS facility into a single site housing road and water department offices and storage. "Once EMS gets out of this building and into their new building, we're gonna split that thing three ways," Speaker 1 said, referring to office, maintenance and storage reassignments.
The retreat also advanced a recreation proposal: a red-iron, roof-only structure about 120 feet wide that would cover six pickleball courts and two basketball courts with a 40-foot front office area to create ADA-accessible office space and concessions or vending. Staff and board members raised acoustics and operational questions — including nighttime lighting and netting to contain balls — and requested peer review of similar facilities before committing to a design.
Board members asked staff to produce a single stormwater plan covering the cluster of projects, and noted short-term site work needs, such as widening driveways, repaving county parking and placing construction fencing to protect new pads from public access during construction.
Speaker 3 said the board can pursue a construction-manager or a single general contractor for multiple projects to realize mobilization savings, but emphasized that some site-specific work (grading, poles, earthwork) will remain variable. Commissioners directed staff to return proposed site plans, stormwater analysis and specific dollar requests to the Nov. 24 agenda for formal consideration.
Next steps: staff will pothole candidate sites for geotechnical and landfill risk, finalize a consolidated stormwater plan for the campus area and present funding requests and site plans on the Nov. 24 agenda.
