The Patrick County Board of Supervisors is still deciding what to do with the old school board office after the school board transferred ownership of the facility to the county in late 2023, according to Board of Supervisors chairman Doug Perry.
Last month, Perry, of the Smith River District, said three court hearings were being held at the same time, and one court was able to hold a hearing in the vacant school board office.
“They made a special court session, so they used the conference room to hold a court case in,” he said.
Now that the new Facilities Director Michael McGuinness is on staff, there’s about four different ways the county could go in deciding on a tenant because it has a lot of agencies and departments that need to move and adjust, Perry said.
“We’re trying to figure out who the best person to get the best bang for our buck and the most usage for the building,” Perry said. “That’s what’s taking us so long to get somebody in there is doing something that will be the most beneficial over the next five to 10 years instead of putting somebody in there now and like, ‘oh no, we should have made some other arrangements,’” he said.
Perry said the initial plan was to relocate the Commonwealth’s Attorney Office to the building.
“With the upstairs and downstairs, it’s kind of maybe a little too big for Commonwealth’s Attorney Office. Then with security issues and stuff, it’s either (the) commonwealth and nothing else could go in that building,” he said.
Perry said he thinks the Department of Social Services (DSS needs to be relocated. The building “would be enough room to have Social Services and some other departments in there. I know the Extension Office being up there on the third floor with court services, that’s a huge inconvenience, and it would really work out better to have court services up there instead of the Extension Office,” he said.
If the county could have two or three departments in the former school board building, Perry believes it would be better and more productive.
“All those options are being explored and looked at, and figured out, and doing cost analysis and all that kind of stuff with,” he said.
Perry also doesn’t know if there’s been any maintenance issues in the former school board building, located at 106 Rucker St.
In response to an email for information, Finance Officer Lori Jones wrote: “I’ve attached two spreadsheets. One with all of the expenses paid to date for 106 Rucker St. We started paying the power bill in December 2023.
“The other spreadsheet is all of the expenses paid for the Commonwealth Atty’s Office to date I have in our system,” she added, and included budget sheets in the email.
Perry said he knows the county has been responsible for maintaining the building that houses the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
“The rent, they could charge us way more. Like if you went by market value, they could charge us way more than what they’re charging us. So, that would make sense if they’re going to charge us less and then, we maintain” the building,” he said, adding he doesn’t know if that language is included in the lease agreement.
