If things move at their present pace, the county’s new administration complex could be complete by the summer of 2012, a county official said.

“I don’t think it could be any earlier,” Cherokee County Interim Administrator Ben Clary said.

At a workshop a week ago, Cherokee County Council was told it has enough borrowing capacity to begin issuing bonds in early 2012 for a $10.1 million to $11.8 million project to build a new county administration complex.

At that meeting, council also instructed Clary and assistant administrator Holland Belue to present a recommendation on the square footage of the new building as well as the departments and agencies that will be housed in it.

Clary has long maintained that in addition to the administration and financial offices located in the existing administration building, the new complex should house the tax assessors office, building codes department as well as the auditor and treasurer offices now in the Cherokee County Courthouse.

Obviously, the Clerk of Court office would remain in the courthouse.

As for the county departments and state agencies in the Peachtree Centre, Clary contends that moving the Department of Social Services to the new complex would hurt the Peachtree Centre’s financial bottom line. He foresees no adverse financial implications, though, by relocating the Voter Registration and Veterans Affairs offices to the new complex. In fact, moving those offices would free up more storage space for the Peachtree Centre, Clary said.

In addition to satisfying the county’s current space requirements, Clary wants the new building to accommodate the county’s future expansion needs.

Architectural/engineering firms have until Friday, Sept. 3, to submit project qualifications. If council members like what they see from the Request for Qualifications, they could pick a firm at their Sept. 7 meeting.

The proposed facility will be built on the former 17-acre Milliken plant site on Railroad Avenue.

Clary said it’s a good time to move forward