A packed boardroom was in attendance for a discussion on the County’s department and facility space needs after both bond referendums failed during last week’s election.

Several options were discussed during the Supervisor’s meeting Wednesday. Supervisor Mark Hanson started by giving attendees a history lesson on past bond referendums and projects in the County before future options were discussed.  Supervisor Brad Golightly mentioned that this has been a long, ongoing project so far and they still don’t have an approved resolution.  Board Chairman Kim Chapman says he has spoken to several people since the election and everyone he talked to had a different reason why he or she voted for or against the referendums.

County officials and employees, along with members of the public weighed in on the issue.  Some talked about the public not knowing what they were voting for or being overwhelmed with issues on the ballot.  Others noted cost as the primary reason they feel the referendums didn’t pass and some still didn’t like the location of the plans, especially the administrative building.

Several options were discussed in regards to how to move forward. Some of them were temporary such as using temporary facilities in the east parking lot of the courthouse, renting additional space in Adel or perhaps renting space for satellite offices in other portions of the County.

Other options included potentially including some of the County offices in the new human services campus that is being repurposed from the old county home buildings or continuing with another bond referendum for just the jail itself, for now.

The board will discuss the issue at their meeting again next week.