Allen County Commissioner Brian Winegardner and Buildings and Grounds Superintendent Jason Pritchet tour office space on the third floor of the Chase Bank building Monday.
Craig Kelly | The Lima News
LIMA — While Allen County commissioners have been focused on the new county administration building project at North and Main Streets, they are also involved with early work on a second building project.
On Monday, the board of commissioners, along with Building and Grounds Superintendent Jason Patchet, toured the Chase Bank building, 121 W. High St., to scout out a potential location to temporarily relocate the county’s Child Support Enforcement Agency, which would allow for the renovation of the City Loan & Savings Building where the agency is currently housed, located at 200 W. Market St.
The idea would be to house the agency on the first two floors, which most recently housed a Chase Bank branch, and part of the third floor, which currently holds a few empty office spaces.
While the renovation project is still in its planning stages and no firm project start date has yet been announced, Commissioner Beth Seibert said the work to find a good location needed to start early.
“Part of it is tied into the state,” she said. “It takes the state six months to prepare to switch them over to their new computer and technology system, which is a very secure system.”
Any building recommendation from the commissioners would also have to be approved at the state level, Seibert said.
Estimates for the City Loan building renovation stand at under $10 million as of February. Even with some capital funds from the state as well as some county general fund money set aside, the county would still have to incur some debt to obtain the money. Any debt taken on would be minimal, Commissioner Cory Noonan said.
“The project was always going to be a debted service,” he said. “But we have money in place to take care of most of it.”
The board of commissioners notified other tenants in the City Loan building that they will need to be out of the building by next July to allow for renovations to begin, Seibert said.
