Debate focuses on 1st floor DMV room, storage, office space
The lack of space for essential services and storage at the courthouse continued to dominate discussion at Hamilton County Board of Commissioners meeting for the second week in a row on Monday. Aside from the quarterly jail inspection which took up the first half hour of the meeting, the space issue was one of only two action items on the meeting’s agenda.
Much of the discussion consisted of items that had already been discussed last week, including the need to move County Attorney Douglas Dexter into the courthouse with space for his administrative assistant and chief deputy, Ross Luzum, as well as the office’s files. He said he would need two offices and a common room and emphasized the need for a secure location for his files. Dexter said he needed space for “keeping files within the bounds of confidentiality as set out in statute for lawyers.”
Following last week’s meeting commissioners Nicole SaBell and Francis McDonald had toured the courthouse looking at various options for office space and storage.
“We walked all over the building, every room,” SaBell said.
County Clerk Jill DeMers pointed out that storage space is at a premium in the courthouse but stated that there are certain documents the county needs to keep for many years by law.
For instance, she said, payroll records must be kept for a minimum of 75 years before they can be destroyed. She said she would spend the rest of the day going through documents to determine which can be shredded and which will need to be kept a while longer.
The one thing all the county officials seem to agree on is that the best space in the courthouse for the county attorney’s office at this time appears to be the first floor space occupied by the state DMV, which is only used on Tuesdays.
Several minutes into the discussion Commissioner John Thomas expressed his frustration with the situation urging the commission not to “play musical chairs” by shuffling various offices around the building.
“Let’s find a solution for the DMV,” he said.
However, County Treasurer Jody Griffith warned that moving the DMV facility, even if the right spot was located, would not be easy or quick noting that the state tends to move slowly on such matters. County Assessor Pat Sandberg added her agreement.
No decisions were made on the matter other than to continue looking at options and the discussion will no doubt continue in subsequent meetings.