Allen County Commissioners have chosen the WDC Group LLC to create design plans for the new County Administrative building and the Child Support Enforcement Agency building.
Precious Grundy | The Lima News
LIMA — Allen County Commissioners have selected the WDC Group LLC to aid in designing the new County Administrative building and a new Child Support Enforcement Agency building. Commissioners agreed to allocate the amounts of $707,160 and $380,880 to the WDC Group for the separate projects Tuesday morning.
In a previous article from The Lima News, Allen County Commissioner Cory Noonan said the county has discussed plans to relocate for over a decade. Following the provision of the ARPA dollars, the commissioners plan to utilize $10 million of ‘unrestricted funding’ towards the new buildings. Allen County Commissioner Beth Seibert weighed in on the progress.
“The commissioners entered into two contracts with a company called WDC,” said Seibert. “We had gone out for an entry requesting qualifications for a company that would come in and we did this through two different processes. We had two different commissioners, leading these two separate processes. The interesting thing is that when we got done, we ended up selecting the same company through two independent processes which was kind of neat.”
The County Administrative Building will house non-judicial administrative offices that are currently located in the Allen County Courthouse including the Allen County Auditor’s office. Auditor Rachael Gilroy weighed in.
“I’m excited that the plan is coming to fruition,” said Gilroy. “A new facility enables each office to be built to specs to be more efficient and certainly more consumer friendly. It will also create a one-stop shop for those doing business with a vast number of county offices.”
Seibert said the designers will begin to speak with the administrative offices to determine what their needs are. They will then decide on a design that is fit for everyone. Seibert also said the commissioners have received feedback from community members on if an existing building should be chosen for renovations or if the county will build something new.
“We’re still seriously considering the possibility of locating both these structures in downtown Lima,” said Seibert. “I think one of the most important things that have been said to us in these conversations is that they would like the commissioners to recognize the incredible investments that are happening in downtown Lima and participate in that by leaving these facilities in downtown.”
Seibert also said there is no set date yet but design plans are the next step.
Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.
