The Androscoggin County Commission will meet early next month to discuss the county’s property at 774 Center St. in Auburn, which was purchased in 2022 using $4.5 million in federal funds.

The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 4 at the Androscoggin County Building at 2 Turner St. in Auburn.

The county bought the former Evergreen Subaru building and the 6.54-acre site with a plan to build a new 30,000-square-foot facility to house the Sheriff’s Office, administrative offices, the patrol, criminal investigation and civil divisions, and the regional communications center.

Deputies currently work in the basement at the Androscoggin County Building.

However, in September 2025, commissioners voted 4-3 to reject a proposed $29 million bond package to renovate the building into a public safety building. The majority of the seven commissioners felt the nearly $30 million price tag was too high and would negatively impact property taxes in the county.

County Administrator Jeff Chute said last month he would like to see the county move forward with a plan that is fiscally responsible while also meeting its long-term operational needs.

“It is my contention that a new Public Safety Center should include the Sheriff’s Office, Dispatch, Civil Process, and the county (Emergency Management Agency) administrative offices,” Chute wrote in an email on Dec. 31, 2025.

The EMA offices currently located below the Central Fire Station at 550 Minot Ave. do not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and are essentially a “bunker” environment, Chute wrote.

“While I believe the Emergency Operations Center itself should remain intact, the day-to-day EMA administrative functions should be incorporated into the new facility, as several other counties have successfully done,” he wrote.