JAY — The first of three hearings Monday on two proposed building improvement projects for Franklin County buildings drew few people who were not involved in the planning.
The referendum for the project goes to voters in the county on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
County commissioners will propose a $4.46 million project to enlarge the Sheriff’s Department building and buy and renovate another for office space. If the bond for the project goes through, the county has until Dec. 31 to take advantage of a 2.8 percent interest rate.
Officials estimated that if the entire $4.46 million is needed for the project, it would cost taxpayers $6.60 more per $100,000 worth of property. The bond would be repaid over $20 years. The county continues to explore grants to offset the cost.
The planning for the improvement projects have been under way for two years. It is an effort to alleviate space constraints and environmental and security issues at both the county courthouse and sheriff’s department building where dispatchers, deputies and administrative staff share a small building.
If voters approve the bond question, then the plan is to build an addition to the back of the sheriff’s building for the dispatching staff and let the sheriff’s law enforcement staff move into the space they vacate.
The bond would also cover buying Church Street Commons and building a two-story addition where there is a one-story building is now. The Commons is next to the 125-year-old courthouse and would house the registry of deeds and probate, emergency management and county administrative staff.
It would allow the district attorney’s office to move out of the ground level floor and up to the main floor of the courthouse, which is a priority on the state court system’s list to improve, project consultant John Cleveland said.
Both the Franklin County Budget Committee and Farmington Downtown Association have voted to endorse the project, Cleveland said.
Commissioners, Building Committee members, architects and others involved in the project are speaking at every organization that invites them.
A second hearing will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30, at Rangeley Lakes Regional High School in Rangeley. The final one will be Wednesday, Oct. 13, in the Superior Court room at the Franklin County Courthouse in Farmington.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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