<\/p>\n
When the Jasper County administration building is completed and the driver’s license and motor vehicle department occupies its new offices, the recorder’s office staff will eventually move in to the vacant, first-floor workplace left behind in the courthouse. Officials say the move will greatly increase accessibility.<\/p>\n
The board of supervisors authorized the move during its April 12 meeting after approving professional design services by BBS Architects Engineers. The relocation will cost the county $18,990 in schematic designs, construction bid documentation, bidding\/negotiating assistance and construction administration.<\/p>\n
Jasper County Maintenance Director Adam Sparks said the idea of \u200b\u200bwhat to do with the treasurer’s office and DMV after moving to the new building was talked about during budget hearings this year. Sparks wanted to know if the recorder’s office relocation was still a project the board wanted to move forward with.<\/p>\n
Elected officials indicated they still wished to pursue the project. Jasper County Supervisor Brandon Talsma recalled seeing a wheelchair-bound customer exit the current recorder’s office some time ago. With the bottom offices likely to vacate in the next few months, Talsma suggested the move made sense.<\/p>\n
Jasper County Recorder Denise Allan said it will improve accessibility to the recorder’s office, which is currently located on the second floor of the courthouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of older people that come up here and of course we get people with disabilities as well. Even though there is an elevator, it’s the trip from the doors to the elevators sometimes. And by the time they get up here, to me, it’s a major effort to get up here,\u201d Allan said.<\/p>\n
The Jasper County Recorder’s Office provides several services and works with a number of state entities, including department of revenue, department of public health and the department of natural resources. Of course, the main function of the office is to record and index documents.<\/p>\n
The recorder’s office provides certified copies of marriages, deaths and births to the state public health department. Allan said her staff also sell hunting and fishing licenses. They also title, renew and register ATVs\/UTVs and boats and off-road motorcycles. And that is just a portion of what the office does.<\/p>\n
Including Allan, a total of four staff members work in the recorder’s office: deputy recorder Pam Keenan and recorder clerks Tiffany Hodge and Michelle Hull.<\/p>\n
Frequency of customers depends on the time of the year, Allan told Newton News. Business may pick up when it is time for boat and UTV license renewals. Processing of marriage applications will cycle through the year, too.<\/p>\n
Having the ground floor offices of the DMV and treasurer \u2014 located in the southern entrance of the courthouse \u2014 is going to expedite or streamline those services even further, Allan suggested. It will be an ideal spot for the people who frequently pick up or drop off documents.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s going to be perfect for us,” Allan said. \u201c\u2026It’s going to be a great move. We’re going to have a broader front counter so we’ll be able to handle more customers at once, too, which will be nice. And we plan on making it more of a space for people with wheelchairs; they can just wheel up to the counter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other details about the relocation and the overall layout of the recorder’s office, as well as what will happen to the current office, are not yet known.<\/p>\n