AUBURN - Cayuga County officials are re-examining the possibility of relocating county offices to a new facility in Sennett.

Public Works Committee Chairman David Axton updated other legislators Tuesday during a public works meeting about the committee's efforts to examine the feasibility of building a new office building. Axton said after the meeting that the committee has already received more positive feedback than he expected over the idea.

“(A new facility) would shrink county government,” Axton said Tuesday. “I think cost savings in energy and labor would almost pay for the building to a point.”

A new building would ideally house every county department from the Legislature to county court, Axton said Tuesday. And while a new facility would ideally be located in Auburn, there is more parking and space available at county-owned property on County House Road.

Cayuga County runs its departments from a number of buildings, though many have offices in the county's administrative building at 160 Genesee St.

A capital plan estimates that it will cost the county $25 million to restore and refurbish all of its buildings, Axton said. If a single campus can be completed for $15 to $20 million, it will be worth the investment, he said.

“It just makes total fiscal sense to have everything in one spot,” Axton said. “With all this talk of consolidation, I think we should lead by example.”

The idea for a new facility is not exactly new, itself. County legislators discussed a new building on County House Road in 2001. Auburn City Council expressed concerns at the time about a move, and some legislators questioned the move's affect on downtown businesses.

But right now, any plan to move is in its earliest stages, Axton said, and the Public Works Committee in the process of obtaining cost estimates from construction companies.

If those numbers look good, there would be a formal feasibility study, he said.

“I think it would take two to three years to get to the point where we know if we want to do this or not,” Axton said.

In other news:

- Cayuga County Parks and Trails could be installing new concrete tee surfaces at the disc golf course at Emerson Park.

Parks and Trails Director Gary Duckett told members of the public works committee that the tee pads - from which disc golfers make their first throw at each “hole” - will give the course a more professional and positive feel.

Money for the project would likely be raised through fundraisers from the Central New York Disc Golf Association, Duckett said.

Every time he visits the park, Duckett sees a few cars parked in the lot, he said.

“We have had a pretty good turnout for the course,” Duckett said. “It is not thousands of people, but certainly hundreds.

Committee members voted to have a resolution for the tee pads added to the agenda for the next county Legislature meeting, which will take place May 20.

Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.