Marion County offices could relocate

Marion County Council is considering the move of several county offices to the old Wal-Mart building on U.S. 76 to cut costs and to better serve Marion County citizens, Marion County Administrator Tim Harper said.

The possible move would mean the relocation of offices including administration, building inspections, solid waste, E.M.S. and emergency management, treasurers, tax collections, tax assessors and auditors, voter registrations, 911 communications, legislative delegation and family court.

Harper said the move will benefit citizens so they will not have to travel all over town to complete tasks such as building a house.

“Right now if someone wanted to build a house they would have to travel to three different buildings to do so,” he said. “It (possible new county office) would be a one stop shop and more convenient for citizens.”

The possible move stems from the counties need for a new family court facility. Harper said it is only a matter of time before they will have to construct a new family court, due to the condition of the building. The estimated cost to construct a 20,000 square foot family court building is $5.8 million, Harper said.

If the county is able to acquire the old Wal-Mart building however, it would provide the county with approximately 70,000 square feet to house the family court as well as previously mentioned offices and according to Harper will save nearly $1 million.

At this time council has only permitted Harper to pursue negotiations with U.S. Properties – the owners of the old Wal-Mart building – on the purchase of the building. Harper said if they are not able to come to terms then the county will abandon the idea. 

Harper said an offer has been made and he is awaiting a response. He would not comment on what was offered.

Harper said he hopes to hear something soon so council could possibly have the renovation of the old Wal-Mart building added as one of its projects to be submitted to the Marion County Tax Commission for possible placement on the ballot for the proposed penny sales tax. However, council would first have to approve the purchase of the building and the move of the county offices.

The deadline for projects to be submitted to the commission is March 1.

The move is also anticipated to free up space for several county offices that will not be moving. Harper said if the move does occur, offices such as the Clerk of Court, Department of Juvenile Justice, probation and parole and Medicare will still be housed in their current locations.

“We are not shutting any buildings down,” he said.

Marion merchants concerned over possible moves 

Some concern is lingering on Main Street in Marion as the Marion County Council is mulling over the idea whether to move.

Some Main Street merchants hope to persuade council the move isn’t such a good idea. Historic Marion Revitalization Association’s Chuck Wiegert said it would hurt business on Main Street by reducing the amount of traffic that travels downtown.

“I respect Tim (Harper) and I understand what Tim is doing, they have to lower the cost overall,” Wiegert said. “I just think, you know, we need to have our offices downtown. I think it is better for Marion.”

Owner of the Marion Emporium Randy Floyd said the county needs to take more interest in keeping the “charm” of Marion alive.

“We have an historic district that is the charm of Marion and without that charm the people of Marion’s children are not going to come back from college,” Floyd said. “Parents won’t encourage their children to move back.”

Floyd added council is being to dismissive of the downtown district.

“I think it’s (the effects on Main Street) something they just don’t want to hear about,” he said. “They really need to take the money that they are putting into this project and put it into the downtown area.

Wiegert said another concern of his is that the county will eventually move the remainder of the offices out towards the old Wal-Mart building if the purchase goes though.

“What’s to stop them from moving all the offices out there,” he said.

Floyd said he wouldn’t even blame the county if they did move the rest of offices if the original move happens.

“It would almost be dumb if they didn’t,” he said. “Once any of it is out there it becomes very tempting to move the rest of it out there, because 5 years from now, 10 years from now they are going to say well half of it’s out there and everything is going well so why don’t we move the rest of it out there.”

Wiegert  hopes the situation can be resolved by moving the offices to one of two buildings downtown: – the old Pee Dee Office Supply building on Main Street or the old Heritage plant on East Bobby Gerald Parkway. However, Wiegert did admit that the Pee Dee Office Supply building would not work because of its size and he has talked with Harper about a move to the Heritage plant as well and it would require a $50,000 environmental survey before the county could even consider it. 

Floyd said he would like to see the county pursue an option near Main Street as well even if that means building the new family court.

“A $4 million project on the end of the district or in the middle of it for that matter would be tremendous to the longevity and the thrive-ability of the downtown area,” he said.