Michael Hudson

DUNLAP, Tenn. — Sequatchie County is taking the first strides toward a new Highway Department building to replace the more than 80-year-old structure that burned last October.

An architect has been hired and the Highway Department has been given approval by the County Commission and the Comptroller’s Office to borrow money, County Executive Michael Hudson said.

Officials will combine the $220,000 in borrowed money with about $160,000 in insurance money to fund the new building, Mr. Hudson said.

“We’re basically in the beginning stages of replacing the building,” which formerly stood on State Street, he said. Mr. Hudson said preliminary cost estimates are about $350,000, but a competitive bidding climate could improve that figure.

“The next step in the process is to bid it out,” he said. No bid date has been set.

On Oct. 27, 2008, a fire broke out in the garage area of the 1920s-era Highway Department building that once was used by the state Department of Transportation. The building was gutted, and a tractor, two salt spreaders and 80 years’ worth of tools were destroyed. Mechanic Briggs Lasater, 70, was injured in the blaze, newspaper archives show.

A family member of Mr. Lasater said Tuesday that he is “getting better every day, but he’ll never be the same.”

Meanwhile, Road Supervisor Tommy Sims’ department will continue to operate from its temporary digs in the vacant Dunlap RV Center on Rankin Avenue, officials said.

After moving into the building last fall, Mr. Sims said that space for the department’s 20 employees was cramped, but the RV building would do until the department’s new home is ready.

Crossville, Tenn.-based Upland Design Group architect Derrick L. Clemow said the 4,300-square-foot replacement building will be simple but modern and well-equipped. It will also be more energy efficient.

“They are going to be incorporating the use of used oil for heating,” Mr. Clemow said.

The 1,000 square-foot office portion will be a masonry structure with a pre-engineered, three-bay metal building for a work area and equipment storage, he said.

Plans also include a hoist rail to lift large pieces of machinery and engines, he said.