By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The City of Menomonie will be the new owner of the Dunn County Government Center at 800 Wilson Avenue.
The Dunn County Board accepted the City of Menomonie’s offer to purchase the building for $775,000 at the July 31 meeting.
Selling the Government Center is the next step in the process of relocating the county’s offices to the Community Services Building, said Charles Maves, county board supervisor from Boyceville and chair of the county board’s facilities committee.
County representatives have been negotiating with representatives from the City of Menomonie, and the city has offered $775,000 for the building, he said.
The Dunn County Board approved moving out of the Government Center and relocating the offices to the Community Services Building on Highway 12/29 in July of 2018.
Renovation of additional parts of the Community Services Building — the former Dunn County Health Care Center — is expected to be completed in time for the offices to be moved this fall.
The offer to purchase has been discussed for several months between the county and Menomonie, said Paul Miller, county manager.
Dunn County and the City of Menomonie have a positive relationship and a long history of partnership, he noted.
Offices for the City of Menomonie currently occupy the third floor of the Government Center.
Selling the Government Center to the City of Menomonie is in the best interest of the residents of Menomonie and of Dunn County, Miller said.
Mike Rogers, county board supervisor from Menomonie, wanted to know how the funds from the sale would be used.
The funds will be applied to the cost of relocation. The county is spending $4 million for improvements to the Community Services Building, Miller said.
The Dunn County Board unanimously approved the motion to accept the City of Menomonie’s offer to purchase the Government Center.
According to information Miller provided to the county board in July of 2018, keeping county offices in the Government Center would have required $3.8 million in repairs for upgrading the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), for replacing the elevator to make it Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant and for replacing the roof.
Dunn County spent approximately $11 million six years ago to remodel the old health care center to accommodate some of the county’s offices.
The cost of custodial services and utilities for the additional office space in the Community Services Building is expected to cost $87,000 per year, but the current cost of utilities, maintenance and custodial services in the Government Center is $274,000 per year, representing a savings of $187,000.
The City of Menomonie currently pays $125,000 per year in rent to Dunn County for the third floor space where the city’s offices are located.
The savings on utilities and custodial services at the Community Services Building combined with the loss of revenue from the City of Menomonie is still expected to result in a net gain of $62,000.
The estimated market value of the Government Center was $660,000.
The Dunn County Board, at the July 25, 2018, meeting, on a vote of 27 in favor and one against, approved relocating the offices at the Government Center to the Community Services Building, to sell the Government Center and to apply the money to relocation costs.
Larry Bjork, county board supervisor from Menomonie, was the only county board member not in favor of the motion to relocate and to sell the Government Center.
The Government Center, formerly known as the Dunn County Courthouse, was built 60 years ago.
The Dunn County Judicial Center, which now houses the county’s circuit court branches, was built in 1998.
According to information from www.wisconsinhistory.org, the Government Center/Courthouse building was completed in 1960 at a cost of approximately $904,000.
