RFP Staff
♦ Department of Social Services Board Chairman/County Commission Chairman Jim Sides told the Rowan Free Press this morning that reports of moving the Department of Social Services and the Health Department to the West End Plaza were premature as were reports of moving the Sheriff’s Office there as well. “Space needs studies have to be done before any moves can be considered. There’s a lot of considerations ahead before a decision can be made.
Today the Department of Social Services will meet and review a space needs questionnaire. It’s been known for a year DSS is running out of space as their caseloads multiply in a county overwhelmed by its poor. DSS has outgrown its office space and parking facilities on East Innes. The parking can no longer handle its staff and customers. Sides believed when the current DSS location and building were considered, the commissioners planning was flawed. The number of DSS clients mushroomed from approximately 17,000 in 2006 to around 28,000 for Medicaid and 26,000 for Food Stamps. The DSS and Health Department populations continues to grow.
In recent months the county commissioners explored the possibility of moving DSS and the Health Department to the West End Plaza which has plenty of inexpensive room to spare and an immense parking lot, yet nothing is set in stone. More recently consideration of filling the void left by DSS and Human Services with the Sheriff’s Office was tossed around as an idea. Other possibilities exist as well. Such a move by the Sheriff’s Office would keep county law enforcement within close proximity Salisbury’s downtown. If the Sheriff’s Office was to move out of the Rowan County Justice Center it would allow for the growing space needs of the Court System without the need for new construction. The Rowan County Detention Center would stay put in this scenario.
A move from DSS’s current 40,000 square foot building on East Innes to an 80,000 square foot space in the West End Plaza would double DSS’s available space. This is all in the realm of possibility because a feasibility study must be completed by Adwardchitects who will analyze the data and present it to the commissioners who would then develop a capital improvement plan based on the data.
Any moves by DSS and the Health Department and the Sheriff’s Office will studied well in advance. Nothing will occur until after the County Commission election in November.
