The new Madison County Service Center will open by the end of March at the southeastern corner of North Memorial Parkway and Oakwood Avenue. The move will make key county services faster to obtain and easier to reach, Madison County Commission Chairman Dale Strong said today, and the center’s approximately 400 parking spaces will be free.
The county license department, probate judge, tax assessor, tax collector and Board of Registrars are moving from the downtown courthouse to the 80,000-square-foot center, Strong said in his annual “State of the County” update to the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber. The service center cost the county $11.4 million to build with another $3 million added in furnishings and fittings, Strong said. Included in the second number is the necessary wiring and electronic infrastructure to handle the large amounts of data involved in those departments’ daily business, Strong said.
After the staggered move of departments to the new center is complete, Stone said renovation will begin on the downtown courthouse. Plans call for new, larger elevators, better access to the lobby for wheelchairs and scooters and a courtroom shuffle to bring heavily used courtrooms to the main floor. Strong said county leaders looked at the idea of a new courthouse to replace the current one that opened on the downtown square in 1964. The projected cost was too high, he said.