Wood County Commissioners and officials with the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department toured available space at St. Joseph Landing that could be utilized by the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department for a new location. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Commission toured a couple of possible sites that could house the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department if they choose to move the organization to a new location.

Commissioners and representatives of the health department on Monday toured Campbell Plaza at 214 Seventh St. in downtown Parkersburg and available space at St. Joseph Landing, the former St. Joseph’s Hospital.

It has been about three weeks since a waterline break caused the health department offices to close in their building at 211 Sixth St. with services being handled from other locations in the area while the building was being cleaned up.

The commission, which owns the health department building, wanted to see if another space could be secured that might give the health department more space and a better building to house their operations before the county committed a lot of money to fix and repair the existing building.

Campbell’s Plaza is over 50,000-square-feet with five floors. It is located right behind the current health department building and there is a walkway connecting the two buildings.

Malcolm Lanham, Community Health and Threat Preparedness Director for the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department, and Emily Lanham, Assistant to the Executive Director of the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department, stand in a former call center at Campbell Plaza with Wood County Commissioners Robert Tebay and Jimmy Colombo. The commission is looking at buildings in the area that could house the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

Realtor Steve Shaver walked officials through the site. The building had once housed a call center and a lot of that infrastructure and raised floors were still in place which Emily Lanham, Assistant to the Executive Director of the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department, said could have advantages for them.

Malcolm Lanham, Community Health and Threat Preparedness Director for the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department, said the main call center floor could be converted to use for their clinical services and WIC services.

In the current building, WIC is on the second floor, but if the elevator is out of service mothers with strollers and people in wheelchairs cannot make it up to the second floor, Emily Lanham said.

If they would move into the Campbell Plaza building, most of the public-facing programs would be on that main floor to allow better access, she said.

Administrative offices would be on another floor, officials said, adding each floor is around 10,000-square-feet.

Wood County Commissioners Robert Tebay and Jimmy Colomboare are shown an old computer room at Campbell Plaza by Realtor Steve Shaver on Monday. The commission is looking at buildings that might house the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

Another advantage would be there would be a lot more space for storage on site for each department, Emily Lanham said.

Officials said there were a number of records, including financial records, they are required to keep indefinitely, MOVHD Executive Director Eric Walker said.

“Year after year, those pile up over time,” he said.

Officials were also shown around St. Joseph Landing by Jon Defibaugh, building manager.

Defibaugh said plans are in place to demolish the parking garage and replace it with open parking lots with around 400 total parking spaces for the complex.

He talked about how being a former hospital space, there were sections of the building where the layout could be reconfigured to meet the needs of the health department for both clinical services and office space. They looked at a floor that housed medical services with exam rooms as well as the former hospital’s old emergency department.

Defibaugh said they would work with potential tenants to have the space meet their needs with walls inside that might need taken out and spaces widened. He talked about having maintenance people on staff who can address any issues that come up.

He said any major renovation can be worked out through their lease agreements.

Walker said they are one of two health departments in the state that offers dental services and they have a panoramic x-ray machine and that takes time to get set up with special requirements for the room it is placed in. He believes St. Joseph Landing would be the most positioned to be able to handle that in the quickest amount of time.

“St. Joseph would be the most move-in ready,” he said overall.

Emily Lanham said they looked at where a lot of the people live who access services at the health department and St. Joseph Landing is roughly in the center of where the majority of people are who come in.

Campbell Plaza has the space, but there would be a lot of renovations that need to be done along with having to replace the roof and do an extensive remodeling inside.

Commissioners suggested that the health department could be broken up into smaller units to be placed around the area. They were looking at the former Parkersburg-Wood County Convention and Visitors Bureau Building at the corner of Seventh and Avery streets as a possible site to house the health department’s administrative offices.

However, Walker said he would like to keep everything under one roof with services, administration, finance and more in one location.

“All being under the same roof helps keep us together with better communication when we need to have meetings,” he said, adding they could make a split work if they had to.

Ideally, Walker said they would like to have around 40,000-square-feet.

“We are busting out around the seams where we are now,” he said.

The commission did not make any decisions on Monday.

Commission President Blair Couch said they are also still looking at the old Lincoln School building near Van Devender Middle School on 31st Street and are planning to tour that site. The old 911 Building on Core Road might be able to house some services. Officials also want to inquire about the buildings used by Mountain State College, at the corner of Spring and 16th streets, to see if something might be done there.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com