Groundbreaking set

Nov. 7 for new Calhoun

County office building

by Teresa Eubanks, CLJNews.com

http://www.cljnews.com

BLOUNTSTOWN – A groundbreaking ceremony is planned Thursday, Nov. 7 at 9 a.m. CT for a new building to house several county offices and a larger boardroom for the Calhoun County Commission.

The 6,735-square-foot structure will be built on the open lot behind the Calhoun County Courthouse. There will be two entrances, with one for the Calhoun County Extension office – which should take up about half the space – and one for other county offices, including the grants office, veterans service office and building department.

The cost? “Roughly three million dollars,” said Calhoun Commissioner Gene Bailey. “It’s all grant money.”

He said the commission got two million through a legislative budget request last year. The final one million came from grant money saved from other funds.

The structure will be made of split block with a metal roof, he said, explaining, “The building will be highly energy efficent and save on utilities.”

The new structure will give visitors something they’ve needed for a long time: parking space. The current extension office, located across the street in front of the courthouse, has only a few parking spots at its site next to the county jail. Since commission meetings are held there, the parking situation is an issue.

Once the new site is up and running, Baily said they would like to turn over the old building next to the jail to the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office for adminstrative offices.

He said the sheriff’s office could use the extra space and pointed out that the historic old courthouse where those administrative offices are now located is far from energy efficient.

“That building was designed to be heated with a wood heater and cooled with an open window,” the commissioner said about the historic two-story structure that has stood since 1904. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sheriff Glenn Kimbrel said moving into the extension building would be “a plus for us both space-wise and utility-wise.”

Bailey suggested it might be time to turn the old courthouse into a museum and make an office there available to the Calhoun Chamber of Commerce.

The new building will be put up by Killian Construction out of Springfield, MO at 313 Fannin Avenue.