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County hits brakes on moving DSS Although County officials agreed in June to move the Department of Social Services to the old nursing home on Route 31, that plan is now at a halt. When the plan first went into motion, Interim County Administrator Keith Kubasik to the County Board of Supervisors, 'We've paid for 20 years for this building, and we don't own anything. He told them that the county pays about $368,000 a year in lease payment for the downtown Lyons building, and another $130,000 in taxes. That $500,000 debt a year 'will go away' said Kubasik. So, the Board decided to form a new Ad Hoc Committee to renovate the empty old nursing home on Route 31 and reconfigure the space to house several departments that are in need of new space. Following the last Ad Hoc Committee meeting, several board members balked at the estimated price of between $115 and $130 per square foot of the first phase, which would be about half of the 112,800 square- foot building. That 56,000 square feet would be used for DSS, the Board of Elections and at least two other departments. The project may have come in at about $8 million, but that was the cost with an unknown re-imbursement of between 70 and 75 percent, according to Kubasik. The Ad Hoc Committee was bringing to the board two resolutions. One that would allow the architectural/engineering firm to continue work for a price of $762,000 and one that would put out a request for qualifications for a Construction Manager. Smelling defeat at Tuesday's Board meeting, Arcadia Supervisor Joe DeSanto, who heads the Ad Hoc Committee, took the microphone. 'We need to step out of our comfort zone... You have two choices. Move ahead or do that old song of one step forward, two steps back.' The Board defeated the continuation of the architectural/engineering services of the SWBR firm. Voting against it were Supervisors Jim Fabino (Lyons), Bill Hammond (Macedon), Steve LeRoy (Sodus), Robert Plant (Walworth), Jim Hoffman (Williamson), Kim Park (Wolcott), Dave Spickerman (Butler), and Leo Jenkins (Galen). Voting for the continued work were DeSanto, Dave Lyon (Palmyra), Don Colvin (Savannah), Jody Bender (Marion), Joe Molino (Ontario), John Young (Huron) and Lucinda Collier (Rose). The Ad Hoc Committe will move forward with trying to find space for the Board of Elections, according to DeSanto. The DSS Building lease ends in September 2007, and currently there is no plan to extend the lease or buy the building. The County has already spent over $600,000 to remove asbestos from the old nursing home and, if it is not used for DSS, there will be no reimbursement for that money. The county has also already paid $10,000 SWBR for services to prepare for the move.
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2006 |
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