Construction of mental health offices expected to last 15-18 months

CAIRO―Preparations are well underway for what will be the future Greene County Community Services Building.

Site clearing at the 16.85-acre vacant lot between Main Street and Route 84 is already out of the way and Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden said construction bids are expected to be awarded in May, or possibly even this month.

The project will get the Mental Health Department out of the old County Farm next to Angelo Canna Town Park and into an estimated 20,000-square-foot, new single-story office building.

“It’s a fairly simple building,” said Groden, noting that it contains no basement or elevator and will have an “H” floorplan to provide plenty of windows for both clinicians and clients.

The Mental Health Department currently serves around 1,400 adult and child patients, he noted.

There will also be a 1,200-square-foot outbuilding on site for maintenance staff to house equipment like lawnmowers and snowblowers, as well as a 113-spot asphalt parking area with access to County Route 84, and concrete sidewalks. Of the total property area, 5.5 acres are expected to be disturbed.

Groden anticipates construction to last about 15-18 months.

“The construction estimate is approximately $13,300,000, including engineering, architectural services, contingency and [furniture, fixtures, and equipment],” he said.

Funding for the project will be paid in cash from unappropriated fund balances.

“Therefore, it will not affect property taxes,” Groden said.

The land was once known as the Cairo Fairgrounds that hosted the Greene County Fair from 1870 to 1936. In the 1960s, it was a horse racing track and in 1974 underwent a complete but short-lived transformation into a speedway for stock car racing. It remained vacant and privately owned for some 50 years before being purchased by Greene County in 2024.

The new building will be approximately 4,500 square feet smaller than the current vast space utilized by the Mental Health Department, Groden noted.

Built in 1883, the old County Farm was never designed to accommodate modern offices and has become inefficient and costly to maintain, county officials have said.

Once county offices move out of the building, Groden said they will need to decide its future.

“The existing building is a maintenance nightmare and headache, is old and tired, and beyond salvaging,” he said. “The legislature will need to determine or decide on its sale, transfer, or demo.”