At Tuesday’s Marion County Board of Supervisors meeting, a draft of proposed usage of America Rescue Plan dollars was presented, with no action taken. This is a federal stimulus package approved in March to aid in economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Marion County was allocated $6,459,005.

Board of Supervisors Chair Mark Raymie put together a proposal for how these funds could be used, with estimates for the projects totaling $4,786,000. Among the proposals was a $1,250,000 project to renovate or possibly replace the emergency management office building at 3014 E Main in Knoxville. Raymie cited concerns such as a failing septic system and the need for a building capable of withstanding natural disasters as reasons for this proposal.

“This building needs an update, it’s not even a close call. We don’t have a building in Marion County that would withstand an EF3, let alone an EF5 event, similar to what happened in Marshall County…How do we make a building that government could still function if we had a catastrophic event occur. Because if you get something like a Marshalltown or a Parkersburg or something like that, it probably takes out most of our ability to do anything, especially if it hits uptown.”

Raymie also noted that while he envisions the new building would be smaller, it could house critical county staff in the event of displacement due to a disaster.

“It puts this building at probably a smaller footprint. We don’t need as big a structure as we have right now. But we can design the building so that it can withstand a lot of natural disaster issues. It can be a center that can house other electeds or office staff in a courthouse event like Marshall County, and then it’s resistant to things like fire, wind and rain. It won’t be pretty, but the point of it would be to have office space built in for other departments, and then the supervisors and the other departments that are already out here would probably remain, might make a few adjustments.”

Another $1.25 million was proposed to go toward improving and adding to county campgrounds. $1.85 million was proposed to replace HVAC and security systems at the courthouse, law enforcement center, and public health office. Another $400,000 would go toward improvements to emergency management, IT, the road department, and human resources.

These are proposals at this time, and no action was taken.