Remodeling of old BMV continues

0

Remodeling has been ongoing at the old Fayette County Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) building, according to county commissioner Dan Dean. Plans for the building on East East Street in Washington C.H. are various including the relocation of a few county offices and the creation of a handicap-accessible dinner/meeting room.

The meeting room is planned to be available for public use with prior sign-up and to be able to host approximately 50-80 people, according to Dean. Not only could the public request use of the meeting room but education classes could be hosted within the room, such as defensive driving courses.

Another idea for use of the room is an additional polling location if needed by the Fayette County Board of Elections.

“Other plans we have for that area, and some of them are currently done, is (Fayette County) Job and Family Services moved Ohio Means Jobs to the rear of that building and the office in the back — and are operating there now,” said Dean.

Ohio Means Jobs was previously located at Southern State Community College. According to its Facebook page, “Ohiomeansjobs Fayette County,” Ohio Means Jobs is “a partnership of various agencies working to promote employment and community development.”

Also moving into the space downstairs will be the Fayette County Economic Development office and the Fayette County Travel and Tourism office.

The funding for the construction came from the following:

“There’s a fund the (Fayette County) Clerk of Courts has called ‘certificate of title.’ It’s funds that are paid when people register their cars in our county. The funds accumulate on good years more than what the clerk needs to expend on some of the things she needs to fix in her office. So (prior Fayette County Clerk of Courts Evelyn Pentzer) always returned those funds to the county in order to do capital projects. That’s how we got a lot of our parking lots upgraded, some of the remodeling in the bottom of the courthouse, and the BMV remodeling for where the current BMV and Title department are,” said Dean.

He further explained that the current Fayette County Clerk of Courts, Sandra Wilson, has been doing the same thing — returning excess funds to the county to be used to help cover projects such as the remodeling of the old building.

Marquee Construction is the company handling the project as it had the “lowest and best bid,” according to Dean. The project has begun and is planned to be completed this spring.

“The only thing that can hold everything up these days is if a group of folks on any workforce catch COVID-19,” said Dean. “If that happens, it can cause delays. That’s the only thing you can’t account for, but right now everything’s going great.”

Reach journalist Jennifer Woods at 740-313-0355.

The old BMV building is undergoing remodeling to add in a meeting room and relocate a few county offices to handicap-accessible locations.
https://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2020/12/web1_20201229_135912.jpgThe old BMV building is undergoing remodeling to add in a meeting room and relocate a few county offices to handicap-accessible locations. Jennifer Woods | Record-Herald photo
A few county offices to relocate, new meeting room to be added

By Jennifer Woods

[email protected]

No posts to display