Sun staff
Several Clermont County Probation Officers will be packing up their things and moving soon, as the courthouse opens up a new office area in the basement.
The idea came about because the probation officers were running out of office space, said Court Administrator Gary Scalf.
“We’ve been desperate to get the space. These people have been doubled up in offices,” Scalf said.
There was some space in the basement, where the clerk’s office used to be, and as the goal was to keep all the probation officers in the courthouse, a decision was made to use that space, Scalf said.
Construction began a couple years ago and will likely be finished this week or the week after, Scalf said.
Probation officers have had to share offices, said Julie Fry, director of the Common Pleas Court Adult Probation Department. Because of the expansion, every officer will have their own office, which allows for a calmer atmosphere and better one-on-one time.
This will also help the probation officers protect HIPPA laws and other confidentiality laws, Fry said.
Probation officers have worked in other office in Batavia and throughout the county. It’s more convenient to have everyone under one roof, and safer because everyone has to go through the metal detector to enter the courthouse, Fry said.
The renovations split the basement into three areas: an area for the probation offices, a storage room for the clerk’s records and a general storage area. The probation area has a meeting room and eight offices and a lab testing room.
Seven probations officers and a substance abuse assessment specialist from Clermont Recovery Center will have offices in the basement, Fry said.
The new meeting room will be the location of staff meetings and of the county’s Thinking for a Change class, recidivism reduction program that helps people who have been convicted of a felony get control of their thoughts and behavior, Fry said.
Thinking for a Change classes are currently being held in the jury rooms, but now they can leave class posters on the wall and won’t have to cancel class when a jury needs the room, Fry said.
While doing the renovations, there were some surprises, Scalf said. The workers had to dig drains for the restrooms and make sure the basement was compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Scalf did have environmental concerns at the beginning of the project, which is why he brought in an environmental company to make sure there were no issues before construction started.
There is new HVAC in the basement, because there were concerns about the basement being damp, said Administrative Judge Thomas Herman. There was also a smell in the basement, but because the HVAC moves the air it is no longer a problem, he said.
“The environmental engineering firm confirmed for us that it’s a healthy place,” Herman said.
The environmental company did find asbestos under tile in a different part of the basement and a company came in a removed that, Scalf said.
Scalf spearheaded the project, Herman said. Herman is very pleased that all the probation officers will be in the same building.
The clerk had concerns about still having space to store records, Herman said, but he believes that with the renovations her space was even better than it was before.
The clerk actually gained storage space because of the renovations, Scalf said. There are also three other storage rooms for equipment now.
The commissioners funded the renovations, Herman said.
“Thankfully they saw the wisdom of doing it this way, too, and we’re grateful to them,” Herman said.