Grundy County Health Department presents plan for new $10.8 million building

The Grundy County Health Department, an architect from Kluber Architects and a construction manager from Leopardo Construction presented plans for a new $10.8 million, 22,000 square foot building to the south of the existing county building.

The provided along with this presentation a fact sheet that lays out the plans for the new building in three phases, the first of which involves building the new health department facility that may include the Grundy County Health Department, the Regional Office of Education, community action, child advocacy centers and more. Phase one is expected to be completed in 2025.

Phase two would relocate the county clerk, county assessor and county treasurer to the current administration building, and phase three of the project would see the existing courthouse in Downtown Morris renovated to serve as the Judicial Center for all court-related services.

Chris Hansen, from Kluber Architects, said the space is also designed with programming in mind: There will be a large multipurpose space for things like Grundy County Board meetings.

Leigh McMillan, from Leopardo Construction, laid out how much the construction could cost but said there are still unknowns regarding lead times and supply chain issues regarding materials and equipment. The $10.8 million cost is an estimate based off of a construction cost index.

“What they’re projecting for this year is a 5-7% increase,” McMillan said. “As we go into 2024, they’re predicting it will fall back into more historic norms, somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.5-4.5%.”

Board Chairman Chris Balkema said this is the first review of the plan that will come before the board. As of right now, the price of the construction comes out to $375 per square foot.

He said it’s a diverse board and he looks forward to getting more feedback on the plan.

The fact sheet provided by the Grundy County Health Department lays out why a new building is necessary: Grundy County grew 33.4% from 2000 to 2010, and has seen an additional 4.93% increase in population from 2010 to 2020.

It also allows for better collaboration of services, keeping all judicial services in one place instead of spreading them out. It will also provide programming space for seniors, an ability for an intensive outpatient program for behavioral health, private laboratory and diagnostic clinical rooms, and a teaching kitchen for food service entrepreneurs.

More changes to the plan could still be on the table, as this is the Grundy County Board’s first review of it. Much of the discussion after the presentation involved concerns over whether the county would need to raise taxes to get an additional $8.5 million.

Balkema said only one path leads to the county increasing its tax levy, and other scenarios to take in to make it work.

$4.1 million of the funding for the project is coming from American Rescue Plan funding, and Financial Director Matt Melvin said he’s also looking for where the county can get more federal and state funding.

Hansen said he plans to present on phase two of the project at the July 24 Finance Committee meeting.