New Montgomery County Job Center could be $45M project

The Montgomery County Job Center will be moving out of its current Dayton location before the end of May, and county officials will build a new center from the ground up in what they expect to be a roughly $45 million project.

Montgomery County Administrator Michael Colbert said county leaders don’t see the move as a decision just for the Job Center.

“It’s more cost-efficient for us to move into a new direction, to build a new job center and to also look out for the future of the county,” Colbert said. “We want to do technology enhancement, we want to deliver better services.”

Montgomery County has been paying roughly $4 million annually to keep the center’s presence on Edwin C. Moses Boulevard. The Job Center’s lease with the building’s owner, St. Vincent de Paul, ends on May 31.

Investment and ownership

The Job Center is adjacent to St. Vincent’s CityThrift location. The center houses the Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services and several other offices that provide social services, and the county estimates that half a million customers visit the center annually.

“A lot of this is making sure the public sees, and comes in, and feels like they can get services they need,” Colbert said. “And we’re doing this in a very efficient way. We’re able to shrink our footprint, have our building that we own and not lease anymore and still have a 10-year return on our investment.”

The Montgomery County Job Center will be moving out of its current location in the coming months. SYDNEY DAWES/STAFF

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The new building will have a $40 million to $45 million price tag. Colbert said the county will leverage state and federal dollars to cover this cost.

Colbert said county officials are eyeing 12- to 20-acre spaces for the new center. The county administrator said this is for “other county buildings that might be built in the future.”

And the building could be anywhere between 120,000 and 160,000 square feet — smaller than the Edwin C. Moses building, which is more than 300,000 square feet, Colbert said.

Transition plan

The Job Center has been at its Dayton office since the ‘90s.

And it’s seen a few changes since its start. In 2016, the county completed a $10 million reconfiguration of the building that created new divisions with colorful entryways to guide residents to tailored services.

St. Vincent de Paul’s administrative office did not return a request for comment about its plans for the space.

The Job Center houses a host of social services: workforce programs, food assistance, Medicaid access, child support and childcare, youth services, reentry program and more.

“The Job Center serves everyone in the public,” Colbert said. “All of these programs are critical, and the synergy between jobs and social services is a big part of this.”

While the county identifies a new property, services housed in the Job Center may be shifted to other spaces. Colbert says the move should not interrupt services.

Adult career services will be funneled to the Business Solutions Center in Moraine, while the Employment Opportunity Center on West Third Street in Dayton will have youth career services.

And the “front face” of Job and Family Services will be at the Southview building on Thorpe Drive, formerly a Montgomery County Developmental Disabilities Services office.

“This is a great project. This is going to be a value-add for the entire county,” Colbert said.

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