The proposed $6 million facility will replace a 42-year-old structure that was built following the 1974 tornado that passed through Xenia. Construction is set to begin in the coming weeks on the new two-story health district building, which will be located adjacent to the current building at 360 Wilson Drive.
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The new building is slated for occupancy when construction ends in March 2018.
The current facility, which is slated to be demolished to make room for a parking lot, is “not a healthy building,” said Jeffrey Webb, Greene County environmental health director.
“From an environmental health perspective, I’m very excited about moving into a new, clean building with a new HVAC system. The air quality is marginal in this building,” Webb said.
The project is being funded through the Greene County Port Authority and Huntington Bank. Funds to build the facility are not coming from the public health tax, which can only be used to support operations.
The need for a new facility is great, according to Robyn Fosnaugh, community health services director, in part because the health district has grown from about 36 employees when the current facility was built in the 1970s to the current staffing of 76.
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Fosnaugh said people who work in the current building have had to get accustomed to cold temperatures in the winter and stagnant, hot air in the summer. When it rains, water leaks through the flat-style roof and buckets catch the drips around the reception desk.
“Personally I feel embarrassed when people visit our building,” Fosnaugh said. “I’m excited that in the new building, there will be room to sit down and talk with clients.”
There will be more room for sure. The health district will be moving from approximately 13,000 square feet of space into 28,000 square feet.
Five Rivers Greene County Health Center, which provides healthcare for low-income residents and started operations in the current building in April, will lease space on the first floor of the new structure.
The Greene County Combined Health District provides a variety of services for its estimated 162,000 residents, including HIV testing, Women Infants and Children program, restaurant health inspections as well as maintaining birth and death certificate records.
By the numbers
$6 million: Cost to build the new building
28,000: Square feet in the new proposed building, more than double the current space
42: Years ago the current building was constructed following the 1974 tornado
76: Number of employees at the Greene County Combined Health District, up from the mid-30s when the current facility was built in the 1970s
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