Two weeks after voting to send a letter of intent to purchase the former Jim Thorpe Administration Building from the school district, Carbon County officials reversed course and now plan to withdraw the offer.

On Thursday, the board of commissioners amended the posted agenda to include a notification to the Jim Thorpe Area School District to withdraw the county’s letter of intent to purchase the building at 410 Center Ave. The motion passed unanimously.

The board cited the need to satisfy a space problem with the Children and Youth department, as well as the upcoming courthouse renovations as reasons for withdrawing the offer.

Children and Youth is currently located on the top floor of the 76 Susquehanna St. building but does not have enough room to accommodate its staff and further requirements will include hiring an additional nine caseworkers to meet the needs of the caseloads within the county in the coming months.

Without solving the immediate spacing problem, Carbon faces the possibility of losing its licensing for Children and Youth.

The commissioners said that this issue cannot wait until 2024, when the courthouse renovation would be finished, and noted that they are hoping to have more of a plan in the coming weeks.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner again suggested a building on Iron Street in Lehighton, which the county had looked at for additional spacing. He said the building currently houses St. Luke’s Wound Care Management, would easily meet some of the department’s needs.

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein also spoke about possibly utilizing the second floor of 44 Susquehanna St. temporarily to provide additional spacing for Children and Youth.

The county had previously offered Jim Thorpe $517,000 for the building prior to the results of a feasibility study that was done by Boyle Construction Management.

Two weeks ago, the study was released and showed that estimates for the building to get it up to where the county needed it, would cost between $8 and $9 million.

At that time, Nothstein and Commissioner Chris Lukasevich voted in favor of moving forward with a final offer for the building, while Ahner voted against it.