- April 28, 2024
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The Flagler County Sheriff's Office is expected to have a new home in Bunnell by November 2022.
County commissioners during a Nov. 2 commission meeting voted to select Ajax Building Company for construction of the new facility — which will be placed on Commerce Parkway off State Road 100, near the county's Government Services Building complex and Emergency Operations Center — and to authorize the commission's chairman to execute a contract with Ajax.
"I think you are accomplishing a very significant project that will enhance this community for a long time to come, and you’re doing it right."
— RICK STALY, Flagler County sheriff, addressing county commissioners
County Administrator Jerry Cameron said the November 2022 end date for the project is a worst-case-scenario projection.
"We anticipate that we’ll be able to beat that by a number of months," he said.
Sheriff's Office employees have been split between two facilities ever since June 2018, when the FCSO evacuated the former Sheriff's Operations Center on State Road 100 over staff concerns that it was a "sick building" responsible for illnesses among employees.
Testing revealed some mold and water intrusion under the flooring of the old structure, which had formerly been a hospital and then sat vacant for many years before it was renovated for the Sheriff's Office's use.
The County Commission, facing FCSO staff who believed the building was making them sick and were adamantly opposed to returning, opted to sell the Operations Center and build a new one.
"You guys inherited a mess, and you took unpopular action along with your county administrator and you got rid of that a monstrosity — and I thank you for that, and so do my employees," Sheriff Rick Staly told commissioners at the meeting.
Staly noted that he'd asked three things of the county: To conduct a space study, select an architect for the project who handles public safety buildings, and select a builder that handles public safety buildings.
The county has done all three, he said.
Ajax has constructed 57 public safety projects, including a Sheriff's Office and Emergency Operations Center in Sumter County; a Sheriff's Complex with an administrative building, inmate facility and Emergency Operations Center in Baker County; the Volusia County Sheriff's Evidence Facility; and public safety complexes in Leon County, Sarasota County and Volusia County, among others, according to county meeting backup documents.
But while the county has worked to prepare for the construction of a new building, FCSO deputies have been split between the jail administrative facility and the county courthouse, where they've been competing with courthouse staff for limited space.
"We’ve been homeless since we vacated the (former Operations Center) building, two-and-three-quarter years now," Staly said, "so the speed of this project clearly needs to accelerate. I think there are some ways to do it, and I've talked with the county administrator on some ways that I think it can be done."
The proposed new building, he said is functional, "not over-the-top," and will be about 30,000 square feet smaller than the space study suggested, although it will be constructed with room for expansion.
"I think you are accomplishing a very significant project that will enhance this community for a long time to come — and you’re doing it right, so thank you," Staly said.
The county commission approved the contract unanimously, and commissioners said timely completion of the building must be a top priority.
"I think it's great that we've gotten to this point," County Commission Chairman David Sullivan said. "I just want to see some dirt moved out there and get the building started."
