County discusses possible relocation of SRR office
By Kortny Hahnkhahn@cheboygantribune.com
CHEBOYGAN COUNTY — The Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners and Cheboygan County Administrator Jeff Lawson recently discussed the potential of relocating the office portion of their Straits Regional Ride program.
The county had received some information regarding some rental space that may be coming available, which could be used by SRR for their office space. Complaints have been brought to the board regarding the small, cramped workspace at the current office, so the county started looking at their options.
"As far as dollar value, it would be very similar to what we rent our space for right now from the airport," said Lawson.
The rental space presented to the board by Cheboygan County Commissioner Mike Newman would offer three times the office space as the current facility. However, the rental property would not have the space needed to park all of the buses currently being used by the busing program.
Lawson said they would look at moving all of their office staff to the larger facility, with its increased size and much better setting for that staff. They would most likely leave a portion of the bus fleet and vehicles at the airport, where they have the space to park them.
"We do lease space from the airport, office space and parking areas," said Lawson. "We have a fleet of 20 vehicles, so we need a space for that."
Some of the bus fleet may be moved to the parking lot area at the Cheboygan County Building, but there is not a lot of extra room at that location.
If SRR were to move out of the airport it would impact the airport's budget. The county is also required to give a six month notice before they vacate the office space at the airport.
"But we also provide supplemental funding to the airport," said Lawson.
Lawson has been in contact with several of the Cheboygan County Airport Authority board members regarding the potential relocation of the busing program. The airport is aware of the space needs of the program, which is more than what the airport can offer.
It has been important to the county commissioners since the problems were first addressed at their meeting that some action be taken regarding the matter, as well as improve the working conditions for the staff at SRR.
"We view this as a first step to a long term discussion of infrastructure and also the bottom line as far as Straits Regional Ride moving forward," said Lawson.
SRR recently took on a contract with Emmet County, providing more routes throughout that county, as well as in Cheboygan County. With the increased demand, more staffing has needed to be hired to accommodate the changes, which means they are going to need the bigger office area.
If the county were to start renting the new facility, which is closer to the county building, it would take approximately 30 days before they would be able to move into the new building. There will be some work that would also need to be done to make the transition to the new building, including the movement of the radios used to dispatch the buses.
Also, with the buses being at the airport and the office staff being in another location, there may also be other problems that come up until a facility can be found to house the whole operation.
"It's not going to be perfect," said Lawson. "We have to work all those logistics out."
The county board members voted to move forward as quickly as possible with getting everything in place to make the transition for the office personnel. Commissioner Cal Gouine voted against the motion due to several issues he had with the logistics and potential issues it could cause.
This move is simply a temporary fix and the county will continue to look into their options in making the working environment the best it can possibly be for all SRR employees, as well as getting the whole program in one facility in the future.