The former Save-A-Lot store which is now the site of Montgomery County’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic has found a buyer, but the clinic is expected to remain open.
Montgomery County Health Department administrator Amber Reed told members of the County Council on Tuesday the East South Boulevard building had been purchased. She did not name the buyer.
Property records still list Niemann Holdings LLC as the owner, and Crawfordsville’s Planning and Community Development office said it has not received any permit requests for the site.
“I’ve met with the [pending] owners and, right now, they’re really willing to let us use that space until it infringes on what they need to do with the space,” Reed said.
The department is at the end of a three-month lease of the site with Niemann Holdings, which donated the building to be used as a vaccination site.
Reed said the buyers agreed to notify the department when they were ready to move forward with plans for the site, “so we’re just hoping we can finish what we’re doing before they need to start doing what they’re doing,” Reed said.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to stay at this location indefinitely,” she later added.
The department expects to receive enough vaccine doses to continue administering the shots, while hoping that the need for a mass vaccination clinic goes away as availability expands.
In other business, the council passed a resolution authorizing a temporary loan from the general fund to the reassessment fund, which has gone into the red.
The deficit appears to have been caused by a smaller tax levy in the fund, auditor Jennifer Andel said. Additional expenses also came out of the fund last year, including a software upgrade.
The resolution gives Andel the authority to borrow up to $200,000 from the general fund as necessary to shore up the reassessment fund until property tax revenues come in. The money must be repaid by Dec. 31 under state law.
The council will return to its usual space at the Montgomery County Courthouse for its next meeting on May 11. Members have been meeting in the City Council chambers of the City Building during the coronavirus pandemic.
