Benton County offices shifting locations

Tiffany Underwood, office manager, on Friday puts away boxes of old probate cases, marriage licenses and voter records going back to late 1800s at the new Benton County Clerk’s office in Rogers. The clerk moved Rogers staff and operation to the new space in the old Kmart building in Rogers.
Tiffany Underwood, office manager, on Friday puts away boxes of old probate cases, marriage licenses and voter records going back to late 1800s at the new Benton County Clerk’s office in Rogers. The clerk moved Rogers staff and operation to the new space in the old Kmart building in Rogers.

ROGERS -- The Benton County Clerk's office in Rogers has moved to a new location on West Walnut Street, a move officials say will improve service to the public.

Betsy Harrell, chief deputy county clerk, said the people and most of the equipment from the County Clerk's Office at the 2408 W. Walnut St. location have moved to the new county annex at 2111 W. Walnut St. The new office is in the former Kmart building, just west of Hobby Lobby.

Rogers annex

Benton County is leasing about 20,000 square feet in the building at 2115 W. Walnut St. in Rogers, with a right of first refusal on an adjoining 17,000 square feet. Property records show the entire building has 114,656 square feet. Some of the former Kmart building is leased: The Samaritan Shop moved into 24,000 square feet last April.

Source: Staff report

"The County Clerk's Office part of it is up and running," Harrell said Thursday. "The archives are still being moved. They're installing the rolling shelves and another piece of equipment. As far as waiting on people, [the county clerk] can do that. It's just a bit noisy while they're putting in the shelving. She should be all settled in soon."

Harrell said the Rogers office provides all of the services of the County Clerk's Office, including marriage licenses and voter registration. People should be able to get in and out with less difficulty with the additional parking at the new location, she said.

The move allows more space at the old office site for the county assessor, county collector and the state Department of Finance and Administration's driver's license and vehicle registration offices, County Judge Barry Moehring said.

"It frees up around 3,400 square feet of space in the BCRO building," Moehring said. "The public space in that facility now is incredibly cramped, and it needs to be reconfigured for improved flow and placement of the different offices."

Moehring said the space will be set up so people needing to get driver's licenses or vehicle registration services can go straight to the state offices or go to the assessor's and collector's stations if they need to have their property assessed and pay their taxes.

"There will be more windows for the public at the DF&A and additional photo capabilities," he said. "There will also be additional windows for the assessor and collector."

Moehring said remodeling the old office will be done by mid-July.

These moves and others are part of a larger plan to move several county offices, with some of the work being done in anticipation of the construction of a courts building in downtown Bentonville. Moehring said the coroner and Maintenance Department will be moving to space near the Road Department on Southwest 14th Street in Bentonville.

The Planning Division is moving from a county building at 905 N.W. Eighth St. to the offices formerly used by the Election Commission at 1204 S.W. 14th St. The Election Commission has moved to the new Rogers building at 2111 W. Walnut St. The Assessor's Office has shifted a number of employees from a Bentonville location to the new Rogers annex.

Kim Dennison, election coordinator, said the new space in the Rogers annex building has some advantages, but with the county having purchased new voting machines she may need more storage space.

"We've still got some coming in so I don't know for certain how it's going to work," Dennison said of the storage concerns. "We do have the training room, which is a big advantage. But, if we have to use it for storage, I don't know what we'll do for poll worker training."

The county is also moving the courtroom and offices of Circuit Judge Doug Schrantz to 221 S. Main St. in Bentonville from Central Avenue, across from the County Courthouse. The county leases that space and has been asked to move. Schrantz said he has scheduled time for his court to be closed in May so the offices can be moved.

Moehring said the county will demolish part of the old county jail occupied by the coroner and the Maintenance Department and some space used by the Board of Equalization. The site is across Second Street from the location of the planned $30 million courts building and will be used as a staging area during construction.

Moehring said the county can't wait until November, when a funding plan for the building is expected to be put before the voters, to do the demolition work. If the funding proposal is approved, the county plans to break ground on the courts building in January.

"We have to have that space ready for development should the financing for the courts facility prove successful," Moehring said.

NW News on 03/19/2018

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