Des Moines County is taking itself out of the running for a piece of real estate.
The Board of Supervisors has talked about acquiring the former U.S. Army Reserve Center in Middletown on multiple occasions during the last year.
The topic came up again, during the Board’s May 14 meeting, courtesy of Sheriff Mike Johnstone.
Johnstone says the roughly 40-year-old brick building could be used as a regional communications facility or training center.
He says the federal government is getting ready to dispose of the building, so he asked the board to again consider acquiring it.
Chairman Tom Broeker says, after a week of consideration, that the Board is not interested in the building.
“We would have to borrow the money to buy it,” says Broeker. “We would have to borrow the money to remodel it and we would have to borrow the money to maintain it.”
He says there is also no guarantee that other local governments would want to partner with Des Moines County to use the building.
Broeker says this opens up the possibility of a private entity purchasing and reusing the center.
