Harford County government will lease space in a Forest Hill business park for its radio shop, a temporary move after the plan for a new facility was postponed.
"It is on hold," county government spokesperson Cindy Mumby said about a new radio shop building. "We are taking a breather on these major new projects."
The county Board of Estimates agreed Tuesday to sign a one-year lease with T-2 LLC, in the amount of $61,956 for 6,000 square feet of office and warehouse space at 124 Industry Lane in the Forest Hill Business Airpark.
In addition to the base rental, the county will also be responsible for taxes, common area maintenance, insurance and utilities. The county will also pay an additional $78,740 for build out of the space it is leasing.
The radio shop installs and maintains two-way communications equipment for county law enforcement, fire and EMS and other government fleet vehicles.
The existing shop is behind the former Emergency Operations Center building in Hickory, a complex that was supposed to be demolished following the completion of the new Department of Emergency Operations headquarters that was opened in November and cost $34.4 million to build.
The new DES building is home to the emergency operations center and 911 center, but equipment for both is still being moved from the old building next door. Those moves are expected by the end of this month, DES officials said.
The county originally planned to build a new radio shop and Hazmat building on another part of the same Hickory property north of the new DES headquarters. The estimated cost of the second building is approximately $10 million, Mumby said.
County Executive Barry Glassman has said, however, he will avoid capital spending for new projects whenever possible for the near future, and one of the affected projects is the new radio shop.
Glassman said Monday the county's information technology operations is being relocated to the new DES building. He said he decided some of space that was being used for a workout gym would be better used for the IT operation. Equipment that had been donated for the gym will be moved to community centers, he said.