Health Department may relocate to cap factory

Daviess County Health Department will relocate in a remodeled portion of the building now housing Lambert Manufacturing Company in Gallatin if plans hammered out between the Daviess County Commission and the building’s owner, Gallatin Industrial Development Corporation, develop as anticipated.

Bid specifications, advertised elsewhere in this newspaper edition, set the plans in motion. If remodeling costs fit budget estimates, then the GIDC will authorize the work with the intent of selling the entire building to the county upon the completion of remodeling.

Lambert Manufacturing will continue its cap production in the center portion of the building. The cap factory will benefit from new and efficient heaters while downsizing its work space to fit its actual production needs. Lambert’s will continue to lease space in the building from the county, much like it has rented from the GIDC since the beginning of its operations in Gallatin in the 1950s.

The county health department board and staff have been looking to expand its offices for quite some time. Local use of public health services has been on the increase but budget realities make the preferred construction of a new facility unlikely.

The county expressed interest in purchasing the cap factory following the dissolution of the Daviess County Nursing Home. Money from the nursing home settlement enables the county to consider the health department relocation. This money is non-tax dollars, the unused reserves available due to the diligence of the former nursing home board. Terms of the nursing home settlement require proceeds to be spent on the health care concerns of Daviess County residents.

The county health department will locate in the west portion of the building closest to Main Street. Remodeling floor plans for the health department outline details for six offices, a large conference room, lab, exam room, weight/height room, bathrooms and storage.

The east side of the building, presently a warehouse section, will not be finished. Utilities will be separated for all three portions of the building. Some exterior changes will also be involved. A new driveway with handicapped access is planned for the building entrance.

Building remodeling will be authorized by the GIDC. Bid specifications outline a 105-day deadline, making the remodeled facility available for the health department this spring.

Remodeling for the cap factory is to be completed during the first 14 days of the work period. If plans materialize as expected, the county will then purchase the building from the GIDC after all remodeling is complete. Exact terms of the purchase have not been announced, but negotiations began using a sum assigned to the building by a professional appraiser from a real estate appraisal firm in St. Joseph, completed in 1995.

The cap factory building is the GIDC’s only asset. GIDC board members indicate an interest to use proceeds from the building’s sale for future economic development purposes.

Those serving on the GIDC board of directors are Darryl Wilkinson, Dan Lockridge, Wayne Culver, Jack Barton, Ron Spidle and Duane Frost. Those serving on the Daviess County Health Department’s board of directors are Misse Tolen, Jan Stout, Jeanie Carpenter, Wallace Greene and Jason Smith. The administrator is R.N. Dana Urton. Daviess County Commissioners are David Tolen, Danny Heldenbrand and David Holcomb.