BATH – Steuben County’s $8.7 million construction projects
set in motion this year are well under way, with their anticipated completion
set for the end of 2018. The construction, which will be paid through county
reserves, is necessary due to state requirements, county Manager Jack Wheeler
said.
The county’s first capital construction campaign in nearly
10 years calls for an office complex on East Morris Street, and a
storage/records building on Mount Washington.
Steuben officials have been concerned for years about the
lack of efficient space at the County Office Building and the inconvenience for
residents looking for services.
The crowded conditions will worsen in the near future, with
new state court mandates for public defense expected to be imposed by the
state, Wheeler said.
In September, the state Office of Court Administration put
Steuben on notice the county must engage the services of an
architectural/engineering firm to look at the current complex to see what the
options are to make court space more efficient.
The new building is located across the street from the
current county building, on the site of two deteriorating county-owned houses,
which were demolished last spring. The project has no impact on village tax
rolls.
The county also expects to store electronic voting machines
and state-required records now located at the Old Health Care Facility on Mount
Washington. Steuben now leases space for storage at the old nursing home.
The voting machines and Board of Elections offices will be
located in the new East Morris Street complex, and records will be stored at a
smaller structure being built on Mount Washington.
The capital projects follow a two-year-long study by county
legislators on options proposed by project engineer Labella Associates.
Steuben’s last capital project was the construction of the
former county Health Care Facility, located on Mount Washington, which opened
in June 2008.
“This project will address the space shortages for both the
short and long-term,” Wheeler said. “The
Legislature is very judicious and deliberative in making this investment and it
will solve the county’s needs for decades to come.”
