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The Athens County Comissioners meet on Nov. 1 to discuss a new security camera system and load limits on roads.

County Commissioners: Athens County Home could receive upgrades

The Athens County Home, a building in Millfield which houses Athens County Job and Family Services and several of the county's administrative offices, might be seeing an upgrade soon.

The Athens County Commissioners met Tuesday morning to hear from Scott Zielinski, director of Job and Family services. Zielinski proposed plans to upgrade the building on State Route 13. Zielinski emphasized that the issue was still in the planning phase, and no agreements have been made yet.

The main point of the plan is to raise the level of the parking lot to prevent it from flooding like it has in the past.

"Right now we've got one big parking lot right here that floods whenever we get heavy rain," Zielinski said, pointing at a map he brought in. 

Raising the parking lot would also make the building more accessible to people with disabilities because the building is at a higher elevation. The building does have a handicap ramp for the parking lot on the south side of the building, but Zielinski said its design makes it difficult to navigate with a wheelchair.

"(The handicap ramp) is one of the snake style (ramps) where you go back and forth," he said. "It's not wide enough to make turns."

Additionally, the upgrade plans would include one main door, rather than the •multiple entry points it now has.

"We would be able to lock down the rest of the building and have a focal point for everybody to go through," Zielinski said.

He said the single entry point would make the building more secure. 

"I don't need to overstate the need for security," Zielinski said. "It's never going to be perfect, but staff, as can be expected, are concerned with the way the building's kind of laid out."

He said there are a few problems, however, with the plans, mainly the amount of dirt that would be needed to raise the lot high enough so that the ramp would not be too steep.

Zielinski added that the cost of the project is still unknown, but it would be around $700,000 to elevate the land.

After a brief discussion with the commissioners, Zielinski agreed to •return next month with a final plan that would involve a price for the total cost of the project.

The commissioners also met with Athens County Planner Jessie Powers, who told them the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway extension was under a slight delay. The extension plan allows the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway to go past Holzer Clinic, all the way to County Road 24A.

Terracon, an environmental consulting company, was contracted to submit an environmental review before the trees for the bike path were to be cleared.

Terracon completed its initial environmental review, which included drawing out the border of wetlands. The review was then submitted to the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Army Corps of Engineers. 

The delay came when the Army Corps of Engineers disagreed with Terracon's position, which meant ODOT had to give recommendations to Terracon on how to meet the Army Corps of Engineers' standards. The changes will cost an additional $2,250.

Powers said Terracon's proposal would be completed by the end of this month.

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