BENTONVILLE -- A seasonal slowdown will give Benton County Clerk Tena O'Brien time to refurbish some of her office space without too much disruption to the public.
O'Brien will close her main office in the County Administration Building and the probate clerk's office in the courthouse for three weeks to replace flooring and workstations in those offices. Her staff will be scattered among temporary space in those buildings or provided space in her offices in Rogers and Siloam Springs. The clerk's office will handle daily transactions in Room 207 of the administration building.
December typically marks the beginning of a relatively quiet period for the office, O'Brien said.
"We wanted to wait until after filing period, which was in November this year, and to be moved back and settled in before early voting, which begins in February," she said. "December, January and February are usually slower months for marriage licenses."
The office has had its workstations and carpeting for about 10 years, O'Brien said. The $75,000 cost of the project will be covered by the Clerk's Cost Fund derived from fees collected for the office for different services.
John Sudduth, general services administrator, oversees building maintenance and helped O'Brien coordinate the shifting of her office space. Ten years is a long time for a government office to go without an upgrade, Sudduth said.
"Usually in five or six years they start looking worn because of the heavy use in a government office," he said.
The temporary space in the administration building is normally a research room for the Circuit Clerk's Office. Kerry Hensley, chief deputy clerk of Circuit Clerk Brenda DeShields, said state law requires the office to have a research space available for the public, and there are two -- one in the administration building and one in the courthouse. While the clerk's office is using the space in the administration building, she said, anyone needing the room will be directed to the courthouse space. Demand for the research room varies, Hensley said.
"It's different from day to day; there's really no way to tell," she said. "There may be someone wanting to use it for genealogy or to do some legal research. But it's definitely needed, and we make it available."
General News on 12/09/2015