ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The first steps in taking the consolidation of some Belmont County offices from the planning stages to reality will be happening soon.

The Belmont County Board of Commissioners accepted five bids for the renovation of the lower of the two buildings at the former site of The Health Plan. The commissioners turned over the bids to architects from McKinley Architecture & Engineering and expect to hear a recommendation during the commission meeting at 9 a.m. this coming Wednesday.

The building is intended to house the Belmont County Title Office, the Clerk of Courts office and the Board of Elections. The expected cost of renovation is $1.6 million.

“The clerk of courts is going to be there, including all the people and all the equipment they need. It’s going to be a new space, a lot larger than what they had. The board of elections is there. They are moving all their equipment and all of their people into the building. They’ll have a nice, large conference room, a large lobby for early voting. A large storage room for all their machines,” architect Christina Schessler said.

“We’re updating most of the systems, putting new data systems in,” Thomas Worlledge, senior architect, said.

Belmont County paid $3.3 million in 2017 for The Health Plan’s former structures near St. Clairsville after the company moved its corporate headquarters to downtown Wheeling. The upper building on campus contains 28,000 square feet of space, while the lower structure includes 15,000 square feet.

The commissioners intend to prioritize the lower building, since the work on that building is expected to be simpler to complete and because the current locations of the offices that will relocate there are rented.

“Of the two buildings that are to be renovated, this is the priority because they’re in rented space,” Commissioner J.P. Dutton said. “This will be a complete renovation, and McKinley & Associates have been fantastic through the design process. (County employees) have certain ways they’re accustomed to their offices being, and you can imagine the discussions that occurred trying to visualize new spaces. Sometimes that can be difficult, and McKinley & Associates have been great in trying to lay that out in the best way possible.”

He added that long-term savings are expected to result from the move.

“These two tenants (title office and board of elections) are both in rented space right now — to the tune of $110,000 a year between the two entities, so this will be pretty beneficial as county-owned space long term in a centralized part of the county for two offices that receive a decent amount of traffic,” Dutton said.

Commissioner Josh Meyer said officials hope to relocate the board of elections by the end of summer.

“It’s an off election year, but there’s still work we have to do, and if we could transition them in prior to that so that they could get settled in before the election, that’s our hope. In that same time, we’ll get the clerk of courts and title office in there,” he said.

“There’s a lot of interior work, so they could start immediately,” Worlledge said of construction crews. “They don’t have to do a lot of prep.”

Commissioner Jerry Echemann, who took office this month, asked about several details of the plans during the meeting.

The upper building is intended to house the three county division courts and the prosecutor’s office. It will require multiple entrances and security measures. The commissioners and architects have been seeking input from the judges and prosecutor during the planning stages.

“It’s a little more complicated. There are more entities involved, and judicial space, too,” Dutton said of the upper building. “The prosecutor will be in there as well. It’ll be a complete renovation.”

“We’re in the home stretch of the planning process,” Schessler told commissioners.