Officials debate new home for health district
Butler health commish eyes developmental disabilities building.
The Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities is divesting itself of one of its buildings, and the health commissioner has her eye on the space.
The DD Board has been downsizing for years and now is ready to vacate the former Liberty Center adult daycare facility at 5645 Liberty Fairfield Road in Liberty Twp. Superintendent Lisa Guliano told the Journal-News that after it closed the daycare center in 2016, it stopped leasing space around the county and moved case management, investigative and quality assurance staff into the building.
They had about 150 employees at that time and are now down to 139, with about 90% working remotely due to the pandemic. All of those staffers will now be located at the Janet Clemmons Center in Hamilton.
“It became evident even if all employees were onsite we can do it in this building by repurposing some space,” Guliano said. “We have plenty of space here to accommodate all the employees.”
There is a quirk involved in turning the building over to the commissioners. The building was constructed with state bonds in early 1990s and it could only be used to serve people with developmental disabilities, according to Guliano. She said every month a certain portion of the debt is forgiven by the state. The debt will be erased by 2028, but until then, it must be used by the DD Board unless the debt is paid off.
She said her board is planning to repay the state the remaining $220,000 on the debt so they can hand it over to the commissioners.
The 30,720-square-foot building is valued at $2.4 million on the county auditor’s website.
“I think that was a great gesture, that’s thinking about the county as a whole and not independently,” Commissioner Don Dixon said. “That was a very diligent move on their part.”
Butler County General Health District Commissioner Jennifer Bailer has expressed interest in the facility. She said her department is looking at many options because it is “maxed out” in the building owned by the health district on South Third Street in Hamilton.
She said they have about 50 staffers, five temporary workers and five COVID-19 specialists jammed into the two-story building. They have staff occupying the basement and no storage space. The building is about 10,800-square-feet and the county auditor’s website values it at $523,270. The law says either the health board or the county commissioners can provide space.
“If the Board of Health is in support of this, and if the building is available to us, we would love to move into that building,” Bailer said. “It would meet all of our needs very well.”
The commissioners are working to organize their entire facilities footprint to determine the highest and best use of their assets. Commissioner
T.C. Rogers said he is not necessarily inclined to move the facility to the health department.
“I’m not going to commit to that,” Rogers said. “First of all it’s a lot bigger building than they need. And that’s in a valuable location too. Just because that building happened to come available at this point in time, and just because the health department wanted it, I’m not going to make that commitment.”
Commissioner Cindy Carpenter favors letting Bailer and her crew move into the Liberty Twp. building. She said she has been in the old Liberty Center building countless times and she believes it would be perfect for the health district’s needs.
“I think it’s a great idea, we know that the health district is busting at the seams in the building they’re in now,” Carpenter said adding the district luckily has been able to have some people work from home and there are nurses working in the field so they don’t all necessarily need 9-to-5 office space.
“We know that we need to do a better job of supporting the health district,” Carpenter said. “They’ve looked at that building, they think it’s appropriate, I’ve been in that building I think it’s appropriate. If there is extra space then perhaps that could be used to store supplies we need in case of another emergency.”
The county recently hired Chris Hacker to be their director of assets, procurement and projects. The commissioners have said one of his first tasks will be to look over the county’s stable of properties. Before Randy Quisenberry left that job 2016 he had started the project. Then the county owned or leased 156 properties with a total replacement value of $510.8 million, according to the county’s insurance company.
Commissioner Don Dixon said they need to get through that study before they make any decisions.
“It’s too early to say what’s going to happen with that,” Dixon said. “I understand their needs, she’s expressed that they could stand more room and we’re aware of that and will take it into consideration.”