YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – Yuma County is renovating and expanding its Health Department building.

The building is located at West 28th Street and 23rd Street near Yuma Catholic High School.

The current building is approximately 50,000 square feet, but will be approximately 65,000 square feet after renovations.

The project is expected to cost approximately $20 million.

“We need more exam and interview rooms. We need flexible use space. We need to demonstrate kitchen and food safety…it just outgrew its usefulness,” Yuma County Supervisor Tony Reyes said. he said.

The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Office currently occupies some of the office space in the building, but the county is also constructing a new building as well.

Reyes explains how the pandemic helped him recognize the need for improvements to the building.

“When the pandemic hit, the health department was much easier to use and we had to run a lot of programs through the health department. So it became clear once again that the health department was outdated and needed to be improved. I understand that,” Reyes said.

Construction on the Health Department project is scheduled to begin next March.