After lengthy discussion Tuesday, the Washington County Board of Supervisors will wait one more week before determining a maximum amount and setting a date for a bond issue for a new communications building.

At their most recent meeting a resolution was put before the board to set a date for an election on the proposed bond that would construct, furnish, and equip a new Emergency Communications Facility, that will house the new county radio equipment purchased from RACOM Inc. An estimate was supplied to the group by Supervisor Jack Seward Jr. based on needs expressed by Washington County Emergency Management, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, FEMA regulations and early renderings. Seward spoke about the initial estimate and their work to make that total more specific. “The resolution as provided by the bond attorney has a couple of blanks in it, which is regarding the cost of the project. Last week we had the first meeting with the architects. They had taken into consideration the things that the Sheriff, the communications board, 911 board and Emergency Management had indicated they would like to see in a building for space and offices.  They came out with an initial proposal of a building of about 8,900 square feet. Based upon that initial estimate, the high estimate was about $4 million, the low estimate about $3 million. We immediately undertook some efforts to fine tune that square footage. So far we have that square footage down to about 6,800. At this point the best we can probably do is the high estimate of around $3 million and a low estimate of around $2 million.”

Seward and Supervisor Richard Young suggested the group settle on a resolution for the amount of $3 million dollars, based on the provided information and estimates. Supervisor Abe Miller stated that he was not comfortable with this number without more professional input. With the deadline for a bond to be included on the November ballot August 28th, it was suggested that they table the issue for further discussion at an upcoming work session before final approval. The issue was tabled and a supervisor work session will be held Monday at 9a.m. with the Board of Supervisors, county officials and architects from Carl A. Nelson and Neuman-Monson in attendance.