Staff surveys have shown Washington County offices need more office space and the solution may be the current Federation Bank building.

The five-story building sits at Iowa Avenue and Main Street in downtown Washington and currently rents space to Washington County Public Health. The bank is looking to build at a new location. At Tuesday’s Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting chairman Abe Miller announced they’d been approached by the bank before it was placed on the market. He said the total cost would be $1.7 million, including furnishings.

Supervisor Jack Seward said the space could alleviate some of the problems currently felt by staff at the courthouse, “It would be two more floors of space in order to alleviate some of the office crowding that we currently have in this building. No plans have been drawn up as far as who would move where, that’s all up for discussion. On the pro side, it would be progress as far as the future needs of county business. This old building was built for telegraph lines, and if you look inside some of the offices you’ll still see the gas fixtures coming out of the walls. It wasn’t built for phone lines and computer access, and things like that.”

To cover the cost a bond vote would have to pass. The earliest a bond vote could be held is August. No formal action was taken on the matter and it will be added to further agendas for additional discussion.