Hammers to start anew at Dare County administration building

By Michelle Wagner

Dare County is moving ahead with an addition to its new administration building to create space for commissioners to meet.

Work on the addition is set to begin not long after county departments move into the new building. The departments, which have been operating out of various locations in downtown Manteo, are expected to make the move Friday.

Commissioners approved the 2,938-square-foot addition earlier this year after estimates to renovate the old county courthouse on Queen Elizabeth Avenue came back too high.

The addition will include a meeting room, audio-visual room, two bathrooms and a hallway that will connect to the main building, Dare County Finance Director David Clawson said.

The $1.14 million addition is being constructed by Heery International, the Atlanta-based construction management team that built the new administrative building as well as the Dare County Justice Center on Marshall Collins Road on Roanoke Island.

The cost includes furniture as well as audio-visual equipment, Clawson said.

The new administrative building is 43,098 square feet and cost just over $13 million.

The Dare County Board of Commissioners has been using its current meeting room on Ananias Dare Street since 1991. It has a capacity of 80 people, Clawson said.

Commissioners will continue to have meetings in the Ananias Dare Street building until the addition is complete, said Dare County Public Information Officer Dorothy Toolan.

The new addition will nearly double the space and increase the capacity to 100.

"The current building at times has been too small," Clawson said. "It is also not very presentation-friendly."

He said the board has expressed a desire to have its meeting room in the same place as the county departments.

Construction of the addition is expected to start May 1, but it could be earlier depending on when the firm receives permitting from the state Division of Water Quality, according to the finance director. If construction goes according to schedule, the addition should be completed by December, he added.

The new meeting room will be constructed on the west side of the building and will use the same brick facade used for the existing building.

County officials first considered renovating the historic 1903 county courthouse as a meeting room, but estimates came back too high. Officials from Heery International said that it could cost just over $2 million to renovate the building, Clawson said.

"Sometimes renovations can be more expensive than new construction," he said, adding that too much would have to be changed on the upper level.

Toolan said no decision has been made on what to do with the old courthouse.

County departments will begin moving to the new administration building Friday, according to a press release from the county's public relations department. All departments are expected to be open and operational by the following Monday, March 31.

Although offices will be open for business Friday, the press release said, citizens will experience some inconvenience during the move, and officials suggest conducting business with county departments by Thursday if possible.

Technology services provided by the county will also be unavailable on Friday, the press release said. The county Web site will be down on Friday, as well as online services such as tax and water bill payments, some online permit applications and online records services.

Records and information from the tax office, register of deeds and court clerk's office can still be obtained by visiting those offices.

The departments moving to the new building include the Board of Elections, the office for the Board of Commissioners, County Attorney, County Manager, Finance Department, Fire Marshal, Friends of Youth, Government Access Cable Television Channel 20, Grants and Waterways, Guardian Ad Litem, Human Resources, Information Technology, Mail Room, Planning, Public Relations, Shoreline Management, Teen Court, Transportation and Veterans Office.