The Liberty County Health Department will be getting a new home.

County commissioners approved the purchase of 6.12 acres of land along Highway 84, adjacent to the Georgia Army National Guard armory, at their December 6 meeting.

“I am just floored,” said Commissioner Connie Thrift. “I am so happy.”

The county is buying the land from Sapp Investors.

Space planning for a new health department has been done, County Administrator Joey Brown said. The current health department building is aging and is no longer efficient to serve the needs of the community, as the COVID-19 pandemic illustrated, Brown added.

“The new health department has been in the works for over 10 years,” he said.

The county’s next step will be to do site planning. Architectural drawings for the building could be in hand during the first quarter of 2023, and bids for construction may go out during the summer or early fall of 2023.

Construction is expected to take about a year, so a new health department could be open in summer 2024.

County commissioners will have to determine what to do with the Health Department’s current site, which has another tenant.

The Coastal Health District has set aside funding for design planning, and Brown added American Rescue Plan Act proceeds will go toward the land purchase. The new health department also was on the list of projects to be funded through the special purpose local option sales tax extension.

Thrift said she was “thankful to the residents of Liberty County” for passing the SPLOST extension referendum.