Grundy County Board hears update on $10 million new building project

Craig Meadows, an architect with Studio GC, updated the Grundy County Board on the county’s budgeted $10 million plan for a new 18,000-square-foot health department building next to the Grundy County Administration Building on School Street in Morris on Tuesday.

Chairman Chris Balkema said the goal is to keep the cost of the building at about $8.1 or $8.2 million.

Meadows highlighted the changes to the plan, which includes parking lots on the west and east side of the building, two new entrances and a private staff entrance. This layout allows for the Health Department, Veterans Assistance Commission and tax department to have their own separate entrances. There also will be an outdoor break area for staff, and an IT department and server area that’s further away from everyone else.

“We have preserved space in the plan, which is what I talked about last time, to be able to expand to the west should you need to,” Meadows said. “The layout of the building inside has been created to facilitate that as you need at a later date.”

Meadows said Studio GC has met with the departments to get their input and has since begun working on the granular details.

The new building will have spaces for behavior health, nursing, senior health, building services, the Grundy Kendall Regional Office of Education, environmental health, administration, the Veterans Assistance Commission and an additional public space.

This project will be paid for partially using the $7 million that Grundy County received as part of the American Rescue Plan. The rest of the project will be paid in cash.