Madison County targets Feb. 27 transfer of state property for new sheriff's office and 9-1-1 dispatch center
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Summary
County officials said they expect to complete transfer of a state-owned parcel to Madison County by Feb. 27 to allow design and construction of a combined sheriff's office and 9-1-1 dispatch center; USDA grant timing and vendor selection will shape when reimbursable work can begin.
Madison County officials told the Board of Commissioners on Jan. 13 that they are pursuing a transfer of state-owned property to the county to build a new sheriff's office and a consolidated 9-1-1 dispatch center, and they set a target transfer date of Feb. 27 to complete the transaction.
"We kind of decided on a date of February 27 to have everything completed," an unidentified speaker said during the meeting, describing recent coordination with the Ohio Department of Administrative Services and the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Officials said the county is expecting the state to send a purchase agreement for the commissioners to review and sign, after which the governor's deed would be recorded and closing would follow.
The Sheriff (unidentified in the transcript) said the county has begun preliminary vendor outreach and needs to complete conceptual and pre-engineering drawings before construction: "I got information for the ones that we're... gonna reach out to," he said, referencing a firm named Granger and other equipment vendors used on nearby projects.
County staff and the Sheriff also flagged constraints tied to a USDA Department of Rural Development grant the county expects to use. "We probably won't see [the grant award] until the fall," the unidentified speaker said, adding that the county cannot incur reimbursable costs before the grant is awarded. Meeting remarks made clear that if the USDA stipulation prevents work-in-progress at award time, the county will limit reimbursable activity until after the grant is formalized.
Speakers discussed broad funding scale and timing but did not authorize spending at the meeting. One participant described an illustrative funding profile used for planning: a roughly $3,000,000 grant paired with a larger $13,000,000 build and referenced $10,000,000 of local allocation as a planning benchmark; participants described those numbers as planning examples rather than final budget approvals.
Next steps described at the meeting included receiving the purchase agreement from the state, completing engineering concepts, further vendor outreach and a follow-up meeting with USDA staff. Officials said they would confirm any grant stipulations that could limit early engineering or site work prior to award.
