County Board Votes To Purchase Property at Key West

A split Dubuque County Board of Supervisors agreed Monday to purchase a five-acre site in Key West from the Iowa Department of Transportation for $500,000 to solve county space shortages for numerous departments. Supervisors Ann McDonough and Harley Pothoff said the property would address immediate and potentially future space needs and voted to support the purchase. Supervisor Wayne Kenniker voted against the purchase, pointing to county staff’s estimate that the 70-year-old building on the site also could need $300,000 or more in improvements and noting that the older building is not designed for the county’s needs. The Iowa DOT gave local governments the right of first refusal of the property after abandoning it for a new building on the Southwest Arterial. The property’s cost and property improvements together still would be significantly less than the $2.5 million previously estimated for a new building proposed to be built at Dubuque Regional Airport several years ago to meet similar space needs.