Putnam County commissioners OK $100,000 study to weigh renovating Pantry Pride space for IT and veterans services

Putnam County commissioners voted Feb. 10 to commission a combined design and cost study — capped at $100,000 — to determine whether to renovate existing downtown Pantry Pride-area suites or build new space for the county Information Technology office and Veterans Services.

The step follows months of informal discussion and recent site visits in which commissioners and staff reported water intrusion, cramped quarters and limited room for IT equipment and personnel. Commissioner Alexander said the board needed ‘‘a solid number’’ so it could choose the most fiscally responsible path. ‘‘I would rather spend $10,000 than make a $1,000,000 mistake,’’ he said.

Why it matters: the county’s IT division supports multiple agencies and houses sensitive infrastructure; moving staff without addressing the data-center components or code triggers could leave critical systems exposed. Staff and code officials told the board that encroaching on the Pantry Pride building’s roughly 19,000-square-foot unoccupied portion would trigger a 50% remodel threshold under fire-code rules and likely require whole-building sprinkler and fire-system upgrades, substantially increasing costs.

Board discussion and staff findings Staff reported about 9,400 square feet of vacant space west of the Pantry Pride complex broken into parcels of roughly 4,800, 3,000 and 1,600 square feet. Contractors’ rough, preliminary estimates cited in the meeting put modest build-outs (approximately 2,500 square feet) in the $250,000–$300,000 range and suggested a 5,000-square-foot IT renovation could run in the mid-six-hundred-thousands; staff said design and engineering would likely be in the 10% range of construction costs, i.e., tens of thousands of dollars.

Mister Grimes, county facilities staff, advised the commission that changing a space’s occupancy or touching the Pantry Pride’s unoccupied square footage could ‘‘trig ger’’ the requirement to retrofit the entire complex, depending on how the work affects overall square footage and use. Grimes also said much of the county’s critical IT hardware either has been moved or is planned to move to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), reducing the immediate criticality for a fully generator-backed data center in the downtown suites.

Veterans Services and combined study Commissioners also reviewed Veterans Services’ request for roughly 2,000 square feet to expand from its current, smaller suite. Staff presented a concept to move Veterans Services into an adjacent front-to-back suite that would return its old half-suite to the Supervisor of Elections or another small division. Commissioners favored combining the IT and Veterans Services studies so the county could bid and design both suites together and capture economies of scale.

Formal action Commissioner Alexander moved to engage a design professional to develop plans and permit-ready estimates; the commission discussed a cap for design fees (Alexander initially proposed $50,000, adjusted to $60,000 in discussion). Later Alexander moved to expand the scope to cover both IT and Veterans Services and increase the not-to-exceed amount to $100,000; the board seconded the motion and approved it by voice vote. Staff said the board’s direction is to return with firm, stamped permit plans and cost estimates and a recommended funding source — the board indicated preference to draw the design funds from general-fund reserves rather than the Better Place Plan trust.

Next steps and constraints Staff will obtain detailed measurements, commission a design professional under the board’s direction, and return with permit-level plans and a construction estimate (staff estimated design fees would be roughly 10% of construction cost). Commissioners emphasized that asbestos, septic, electrical segregation and other unknowns (asbestos and some electrical work were flagged as ‘‘unknown’’) could change estimates once a full survey and design occur. The board also discussed broader county-property strategy — including leasing or selling the former FHP building, appraisals of two nursing-home properties and the possibility of using lease revenue to fund new construction — and asked staff to bring additional information to future workshops.

The workshop concluded with no public comments and an adjournment. The design study approved Feb. 10 will inform whether Putnam County renovates existing Pantry Pride-area suites, constructs new buildings on county-owned land, or pursues leasing/sale options to offset costs.