Renovation and Building Progress on County Owned Buildings

It's all coming together now.  The new Wilkes Jail or Detention Center is scheduled to open November 1, and last week the Wilkes County commissioners moved closer to completion of  a county agricultural center.  Commissioners agreed to seek general contractor bids for the project. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has already agreed to lease the 5,000 square feet in the County Ag Center for the U.S. Farm Service Agency, U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service and U.S. Rural Development which have been in the Hayes Federal Building.  Under the lease agreement, GSA will pay county government over $100,000 annually. Local agricultural leaders asked commissioners two years ago for a county agricultural building to house federal agencies. Wilkes County purchased the former Northwestern Bank complex for the Ag Center building and a nearby 36,000-square-foot former bank building to renovate for a law enforcement center to house the Wilkes Sheriff’s Department.