CLARKESVILLE — The Habersham County Commission is continuing to evaluate whether a new county government administration building is feasible and, if so, the best location for it.
The county has an option to purchase one potential site, located on Jacob's Way at the entrance to the Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center off Toccoa Highway. That option runs until late June, with the possibility for extension.
That 7.4-acre site is one of several discussed by commissioners as far back as a retreat earlier this year.
On Monday, Paul Hoover of Precision Planning provided some options for the Jacob's Way site, including roughly 28,000 square feet of offices for current departments and future expansion.
The three-story building tentatively would be designed to house the county commission offices, including county manager and county clerk; an executive conference room; planning and development/engineering; a small county commission meeting room; the tax commissioner's office; human resources; the tax assessor; county maintenance staff; elections and voter registration; and information technology. Also built in would be storage, a public lobby, mechanical and a small break room.
Commissioners differed slightly in how they want the building to look if built on that site.
Commissioner Ed Nichols said he wants it to have a similar appearance in materials and windows to the new courthouse on Llewellyn Street in Clarkesville.
Commissioner Sonny James said there is enough separation between the facilities that resemblance is not necessary.
A third point of view from Commissioner Victor Anderson is that the building should have its own appearance to get away from the judicial center look because commissioners want this to be a building where residents come and go easily to conduct their business with the county unencumbered.
Hoover said the building could have its own unique look, but still be in keeping with other nearby facilities.
Anderson and James were vocal that they want a functional building rather than a fancy one. Commissioners agreed they want the building to be large enough to serve the purpose, but not feature a lot of extra expenses either initially or in long-term maintenance.
Nichols stressed the commission has not voted to build a new administration building on the property under option near the aquatic center.
Following the discussion, Chairwoman Natalie Crawford explained where the county commission is in the planning process.
"Today we looked at some more indepth plans for one of the options we're considering for an administration building," Crawford said. "This is just an option, but we're moving along in that process taking a look at what our actual costs are going to be versus the estimates that we've received as far as what it's really going to take should we build a new administration building in another location."
Funding for the proposed building would come both from sales tax and property taxes.
"Some of that is built into SPLOST, and then some of it of course would come from our general fund," Crawford said.
Hoover's firm will continue its work to refine the Jacob's Way option, then present that back to commissioners in the coming weeks.
Commissioners agreed an ongoing concern is the cost of tying a building constructed on Jacob's Way to Clarkesville sanitary sewer, estimated by city engineers to cost $452,000.
There was some preliminary discussion of whether a short-term plan could include spending some $10,000-$12,000 for a septic system to serve the building until the county can look with the city at ways to serve other customers, then tie the new administration building, the aquatic center and other facilities in the area onto city sewer at that time when it's more economical.
