Forsyth County plans new administration space and leases Midway Elementary for sheriff training

Chairman John and Mike Valdez described a multi-year public facilities investment plan intended to consolidate county operations and scale space for growing staff levels. Valdez said an administration building is expected to house roughly 350–400 employees, and consolidating courts from four buildings into two is intended to create operational efficiencies.

Sheriff Ron Freeman said the sheriff's office has been operating out of multiple rented spaces — including a 10,000-square-foot training site that "was full the day that we rented it" — and welcomed the chance to use the new Midway Elementary building as a training center. Freeman said the Midway facility is 72,000 square feet and described negotiating favorable terms: "I tried to get it for 50¢. I only got it for a dollar," he said.

Freeman said using the Midway site avoids the expense of building a new 35,000-square-foot training facility, which he estimated could run "in the tens and tens of millions of dollars." He described operational benefits of consolidating detectives and headquarters into an administration building, and said the move would make more efficient use of county resources.

Panelists framed the arrangement as a cost-saving, intergovernmental solution: Valdez noted the school system had surplus capacity in the new building and that the lease saves taxpayer dollars compared with constructing new training space. No formal vote or funding appropriation was recorded during the session; speakers described the plan as part of ongoing strategic implementation.