Uses for salon building explored
Staff writer
A building along US-56 north of Marion once eyed for the county health department is now being considered for other departments.
At Monday’s meeting, county commissioners discussed using the former Silk Salon building for road and bridge, planning and zoning, emergency management, and ambulance service offices.
Doing so would allow the county attorney to move into the former welfare and extension annex building that now houses ambulance offices.
A second possibility was to move road and bridges, planning and zoning, and emergency management to the building and add a larger conference room. The county attorney’s office would move to the courthouse annex and EMS would stay at the annex.
In either scenario, electrical, plumbing, drywall work, and the like would need to be done. Commissioners plan to get estimates for the work.
Commissioners decided the second scenario would likely be the less expensive of the two.
The county paid $160,000 for the building in late in June. When the health department was considering moving there, it obtained an estimate of $693,700 for work that apparently would have been more extensive.
“At some point, there will be specifics, and it won’t be too far down the road,” county clerk Tina Spencer said.