Linn County pursues $19.3 million new Secondary Roads headquarters

CEDAR RAPIDS — Linn County is pursuing a new approximately $19.3 million headquarters building for the Secondary Roads Department.

The building site is the location of the current Main Shop for the Secondary Road Department at 1944 County Home Rd., Marion.

The new headquarters will combine the functions of the Engineering Office, currently located at 1888 County Home Road, and the Main Shop into one new building. The existing Main Shop will become cold storage for the Secondary Roads Department.

The project anticipates reusing the existing maintenance shop and puts every vehicle in Secondary Roads’ inventory under one roof. This is the last county facility that needs to be renovated after the 2008 flood, Director of Policy and Administration Darrin Gage said.

“It indeed needs a major renovation, so I’m glad that we can do this,” Supervisor Chair Kirsten Running-Marquardt said. “The Linn County secondary roads crew, they deserve to be able to work in a professional building.”

County officials anticipate putting the project out for bid in late summer or early fall 2024 and awarding the contract this fall, allowing the contractor to potentially start on rough grading and other dirt work before winter.

Most of the building construction will occur in 2025. Construction is slated to wrap up in spring 2026.

The three-member Board of Supervisors approved funding sources for the project this week so the project can be put out for bid.

Of a $10 million pool of the county’s federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars received to replenish lost revenue, the county plans to use about $7.4 million toward this project.

Another $700,000 is slated to come from funds the Federal Emergency Management Agency has not yet obligated for a barn that was damaged in the 2020 derecho.

About $8 million will come from local-option sales tax money carried over from Secondary Roads from three budget years, fiscal 2024 through 2026.

The county has received an offer to sell the former Secondary Roads District 1 Shop at Morgan Creek Park, Gage said. Located at 1206 Stoney Point Rd. NW in Cedar Rapids, it has to go through Planning and Development for conditional use approval before it is sold.

The county will sell the Engineering Office for an estimated $1.2 million, Gage said. Per the county assessor, it’s expected to cost $40,000 an acre for 30-40 acres. A conservation and maintenance shed would be maintained on that site.

Other funds would come from the sale of the Fillmore Building, where the county used to operate its winter overflow shelter for the unhoused population. The new shelter is located at 1017 12th Ave. SW. The Fillmore building was appraised at $2.1 million, but it’s unknown when the building will sell.

There also is money from the capital improvement fund that hasn’t been spent because of the derecho and COVID-19, Gage said. Contributions from other entities supporting the project are possible but not yet final.

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