After months of work from local and state leaders, Daviess County Fiscal Court will vote today on whether to proceed with a lease agreement that would allow the Daviess County Operations Center to become a regional REAL ID center.
If County Commissioners vote in approval of the lease agreement with the state, the Daviess County Parks & Recreation department and Daviess County Emergency Management Agency will relocate downtown to the former RiverPark Eyecare building, located at 221 Allen St.
Fiscal Court approved the purchase of the 4,500-square-foot building last December after determining a need for more space and parking.
“With the operations center, parking had a lot do with it, and the ability to get in and out,” Mattingly said. “That’ll free up about 2,300 square feet for the REAL ID office.”
State officials initially released a list of regional REAL ID sites across the state that didn’t include Daviess County — with the nearest location in Madisonville.
That didn’t sit well with Mattingly, who reached out to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet upon hearing the news that Kentucky’s fourth-largest city wasn’t expected to have a permanent office.
In February, Fiscal Court said they’d been working directly with KYTC to find a permanent space for a REAL ID site. David Smith, director of legislative services for Fiscal Court, said in February that Daviess County’s lack of a REAL ID site could have a negative economic impact on entities such as the Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport.
Mattingly said State Representative Suzanne Miles had been working alongside him to make this happen for those in the local community, as well as those who live in surrounding counties like Hancock, McLean and Ohio and Henderson.
“I anticipate Fiscal Court giving the authority to sign the lease agreement,” Mattingly said. “Then once we send it to the state, they’ll give us a notice to proceed. Then we’ll have about three months to remodel the operations center.”
That would give the Daviess County REAL ID site a January 2021 opening date.
“It’s not bad. It’s a pretty standard plan, though it may be delayed because of COVID” he said. “It’ll be up to KYTC to decide.”
