ST. CLAIR COUNTY — Even with funding for a new Veterans Affairs nursing home a question mark at the present time, county officials still want to be sure the area is prepared once the project is ready to begin.

On Friday, multiple county officials confirmed that county attorney Bill Weathington is currently preparing a deed to transfer the property intended for the VA Nursing Home into the State Veterans Administration’s possession. St. Clair County Commission chairman Stan Batemon said the county is taking this step “so that the administration will be ready to move forward as quickly as possible when funding for the new home is released.”

“We hope they can be ready quicker than we originally thought,” Batemon said. “We hope things will work out where they’re ready faster than we thought they might be.”

The proposed nursing home would be located contiguous to the new St. Vincents St. Clair hospital, currently under construction on the campus of Jefferson State Community College, off exit 158 on Interstate 20.

The project first surfaced in 2008, and the Department of Veterans Affairs received a certificate of need to build the facility in November 2009. In January, officials with the VA said federal funding would not be available in 2010, pushing back the target completion date.

Economic Development Council executive director Don Smith, who helped bring the project to Pell City in the first place, said Friday that the county needs to be prepared once the money is available.

“As long as they are ready to go forward, then if funds do become available, we want to make sure they are ready to utilize them,” he said.