New annex building "a dream come true" for employees

Perhaps the most newsworthy aspect of Monday morning’s Grundy County supervisors meeting wasn’t the agenda itself but the venue in which it was being held. The board gathered in the brand new conference room at the recently completed annex building, and after three weeks in their offices, the employees that work there could not be happier with how it all turned out in the end.
           
“When I walk in, it’s almost like it’s a dream that it’s actually real,” County Social Services Office Manager Lori Evans said. “It’s just modern. It’s clean, (and) there’s no odors. It’s absolutely unbelievable.”
           
Supervisor Harlyn Riekena, who represents the Wellsburg area, first spearheaded the push for a new building in 2010, noting that the current annex—constructed in 1938—was falling into a state of disrepair and did not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
           
“It was shot,” he said.
           
Upon inspecting the old building, it’s hard to disagree: a one-of-a-kind odor emanates from the interior, and mold had been growing for some time. It looks like a facility built 80 years ago, and Grundy County Public Health (GCPH) and County Social Services (CSS)—the two main agencies that work out of the annex—were on different levels. At the new office, which is conveniently located right next door, they’re just a short walk down the hallway from each other. 
 
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