The Washington County Board of Health continued discussion on the future of the public health department’s location during their June meeting.

Public Health Administrator Danielle Pettit-Majewski stated that she will continue placing a “building update” discussion item on their agenda as Federation Bank, from whom they currently rent their office space, has announced their planned relocation to the former US Bank building in Washington in 2022, “I do just want to make sure that the board is aware, everything that we have done has taken a lot longer than we’ve anticipated and a year will go by really quickly. And I don’t know if they will put this building on the market or what their process will be, but I don’t think we can sit on this.”

Pettit-Majewski added that Federation Bank is contracted to give the county 60 days notice of ending their rental agreement. She also mentioned that she has attended several webinars regarding the federal American Rescue Plan and how county governments can spend those funds. State Auditor Rob Sand has said that public health infrastructure would be an allowable expense, if the county were to purchase the Federation Bank building using those funds, which Washington is receiving about $4.27 million. The Washington County Board of Supervisors announced last week that they will name a five-member committee this week to begin the process of determining how to spend those funds, which must be allocated by December 21, 2024.