NEW CUMBERLAND — The Hancock County Health Department is looking to grow.

As part of its Feb. 12 meeting, the Hancock County Commission agreed to advertise for proposals in relation to the planned construction of a new garage for the health department.

According to the Request for Proposal, which can be found online through the Hancock County Commission’s website, the proposal is for the construction of a two-bay garage located at 850 North Chester St., in New Cumberland — just north of the existing Hancock County Health Department building.

Officials ask interested individuals to propose a structure with “a minimum 12-foot ceiling height” and with two 10-by-10-foot overhead garage doors with openers centered on the building and facing the parking pad and one-man door near the garage doors and facing the Health Department building. The proposal should also include:

• Installation of a 200-amp electrical service.

• Interior walls and ceilings insulated and finished with 5/8-inch fire-rated drywall, painted white.

• Ceiling-mounted, centrally placed light fixture appropriate for the space with switch at man door with one quad outlet on each interior wall.

• Exterior lighting to illuminate the garage area.

• A shingle roof to match the existing building and steel siding with aluminum soffit and fascia to match the existing building.

• Awning above the garage doors and man door to protect individuals from the elements.

• Schematic drawings, with dimensions of building and assurance “the building does not lie within a floodplain.”

Work is to include the clearing and grading for a 28-foot-by-30-foot slab on-grade garage, construction of the garage and installation of sidewalks to connect to the front and rear entrances of the health department and a parking pad, as well as landscaping that includes the planting of trees and other foliage.

Proposals are due by 1:30 p.m., March 12, with an opening scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on the same day.

The current offices of the Hancock County Health Department opened in early 2023, replacing the department’s former space behind the county courthouse from where the department had operated since 1941.

The new offices were designed to provide easier access for residents with everything on one level, as well as an attached drive-through garage space which can be used for laboratory testing, vaccination clinics and other screenings. Such services once were offered to the community in local parks or other off-site locations because of a lack of available space.