T-L Photo/CARRI GRAHAM Monroe County Public Transportation Director Denise Potts, left, discusses the department’s yearly funding with the Monroe County Board of Commissioners at the board’s Tuesday meeting. Also pictured, from left, are Commissioners Mick Schumacher and Tim Price.

WOODSFIELD — The Monroe County Care Center’s long-awaited survey by the Ohio Department of Health is complete, yet the future of the facility remains uncertain.

The sale of the center has been in the works for the past seven months, since Monroe County Commissioners Carl Davis and Tim Price signed a letter of intent to privatize the facility.

Davis and Price agreed to sell it to Bryan Casey, president of Alternative Living Solutions. Commissioner Mick Schumacher abstained.

The road to completing the sale has been long and bumpy. First, another local bidder offered a higher price for the facility, which is being sold to Casey for $500,000.

Some public officials also questioned the decision to accept that price, since the commissioners have advanced more than $6 million from county coffers to keep the 166-year-old facility in operation over the past couple of years.

In addition, the transaction date has been pushed back a few times due to the survey’s lack of completion. The transaction could not be finalized until the center passed the inspection by the Ohio Department of Health, commissioners previously said.

At their Tuesday meeting, commissioners said the survey had been completed on Thursday.

“It’s been completed with no tags,” Price said.

The facility passed the inspection, however commissioners said the next steps are still unknown.

“We need to touch base with the attorneys and see what we need to do from there,” Price said.

The lawyers involved in the sale should be able to tell commissioners what they need to do to finalize the sale. Commissioners said they have not spoken with Casey since the survey’s completion.

The original transfer date was set for Dec. 16, but it was postponed to Jan. 15. The survey still had not been completed by that time, and a new date to finalize the sale has not been set yet.

In other matters, Monroe County Public Transportation Director Denise Potts met with commissioners to discuss the department’s grants and advancements Tuesday. The MCPT recently received its Ohio Department of Transportation Rural Transit Program funding award for 2020, totalling $311,367. The letter of intent submission for 2021 funding is underway, Potts said. The application must be completed and submitted between April and May.

“We operate 50-50. It’s grant funding versus local funding,” she said.

The department is half funded by ODOT’s grant funds and half by the county. Potts said the department hopes to receive an increase in the ODOT funding next year, as officials are anticipating moving into a new facility.

“It’s (ODOT grant funding) usually similar (to the previous year) or goes up a little bit,” she said.

In 2019, ODOT awarded the department $220,500 — $90,867 less than the funding awarded this year.

The MCPT is currently housed in the senior citizen center in Woodsfield. Potts said the department has outgrown the office, as it employs 12 drivers and two office workers, including herself.

She inquired if commissioners knew of any office space available. Davis responded that he was not aware of any vacant spaces.

“It’s just really hard for all of us to work in one little office with … drivers coming in and out all day,” Potts said.

The current facility only has one office, she said. Potts said she hopes to secure a facility with three or four offices that the department will rent.

Potts also met with commissioners to reimburse the county for a $10,000 advance from 2018. The funds were used to pay employees’ wages, she said.