By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
A final draft of an inter-local agreement between the City of Decatur and Adams County is expected to be ready for city council’s approval at its August 1 meeting.
The agreement deals with the city and county working together on the countywide public transportation service to be offered – likely as soon as early next year – through the Adams County Council on Aging.
The city will provide the Council on Aging with a 20-year lease at the MERIT Center, the former Northwest School owned by the city. The council will occupy its area of the building rent free, and in return will provide – as it already does – various services such as being an information center, maintenance services, etc.
The launching of the countywide public transportation service will require at least two vehicles to be added to the four the council on aging currently uses.
The council currently has no garage facility, so the county will pay the city $200,000 for .7 of an acre of land on the northwest corner of the MERIT Center property and construct a garage there. One of the two small buildings currently situated on that area will be demolished.
A discussion of the inter-local agreement was held at city council’s recent meeting and a question arose over who will pay for a survey of the land involved. It will be resolved before the agreement comes to the city again, at the August 1 meeting.
Councilman Craig Coshow, who noted that he has had several meetings with county officials about the agreement, said, “It’s a good partnership.”
The Council on Aging and Director Michelle Lengerich moved into the former school in November of 2021, exiting the Adams County Service Complex.
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