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WINTON – A plan to construct a new building to house the county’s Health Department is gaining momentum.

The county, part of Albemarle Regional Health Services, (ARHS), previously agreed to a stipulation with ARHS to   construct a new Health Department building, available to be occupied by July 1, 2026.

At the most recent meeting of the Hertford County Board of Commissioners, Kevin Patterson, interim county manager, informed the board that initial estimates have been received from the project’s architect, Oakley Collier.

“The architects have worked up initial scenarios,” Patterson said. “The first is for new construction here at the courthouse complex; the other is to renovate one of the building wings at the old Ahoskie Elementary School.”

As for the new construction, a 10,102 square foot building is estimated at a price of $3,615,280.04. Adding in contingency fees and architectural/engineering fees brings the estimated total cost to $4,086,808.04.

The cost to renovate a portion (10,355 square feet) of the old elementary school to house the Health Department is $2,870,030.30. Contingency plus architectural/engineering fees pushes the cost to $3,326,433.93.

“We’ll be meeting again with the architects to look at other options,” Patterson told the commissioners.

He mentioned that there has been discussion about adding a new Senior Center to the new Health Department building at the courthouse complex. That would increase the cost of that building to over $5 million.

“This is not a formal request for the Senior Center, this is just information for you to decide which direction the board is interested in,” Patterson stressed.

As far as funding sources for this project, Patterson hinted at a possible state grant.

“To our [General Assembly] representatives, we could ask for at least $4 million with a possible expansion of that request to $5.5 million for the Health Department and the Senior Center.”

Since Patterson’s presentation was only for informational purposes, the commissioners did not take any action on the plans.