Benton County expands Rogers satellite office site

File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Benton County recently opened satellite offices at 1428 Walnut St. in Rogers. The county is now in the process of buying adjacent land to use as a parking lot. “The building has far exceeded our expectations,” County Judge Bob Clinard said. ”We’re victims of our own success.”
File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Benton County recently opened satellite offices at 1428 Walnut St. in Rogers. The county is now in the process of buying adjacent land to use as a parking lot. “The building has far exceeded our expectations,” County Judge Bob Clinard said. ”We’re victims of our own success.”

BENTONVILLE -- Work planned for the Benton County office in Rogers will put the county in good shape for the next decade or more with its satellite offices, county officials say.

County Judge Bob Clinard briefed the Committee of the Whole last week on plans to buy land for parking and do some remodeling of the Rogers building. The purchase of the additional parking area and the remodeling will cost about $139,500, according to estimates. The land will cost $82,000.

County Satellites

Benton County’s Rogers office building is one of three recent projects where the county has moved satellite offices. The Rogers office at 1428 W. Walnut St. opened in March 2014 with space for the county clerk, assessor and collector and the state Revenue Office. The county assessor and collector moved in September 2014 from a location on 28th Street in Bentonville to 2401 S.W. D St. they share with the Revenue Office. A new office space for the assessor and collector and state Revenue Office at 901 First Ave. SE in Gravette opened in October 2013.

Source: Staff Report

"The building has far exceeded our expectations," Clinard said. "We're victims of our own success."

The state revenue office and the three county offices -- assessor, county clerk and collector -- that share the building all report increases in customer traffic over the former office site at Third and Poplar streets in Rogers, Clinard said.

Revenue office figures show about 1,800 more people use the office each month compared to the old location. The county clerk's office reported more than 1,000 more people used the new location during early voting for the 2014 general election compared to the similar election in 2010. The assessor's office count shows traffic in January was up by more than 1,000 people over the same month in 2014. February numbers show more than 2,000 more customers compared to the same month in 2014.

The increase in business also brought some problems to light, Clinard said.

"We're covered up. It's hard for people to park," he said. "It's hard for our employees to park. If they leave on their lunch break they may come back and have no place to park."

The county signed a contract to buy vacant land just east of the office at 15th and Walnut streets, Clinard said. The parking lot will be connected and a new paved parking lot built on the additional land. The original site had about 63 parking spaces, and the project will add about 40 spaces, Clinard said.

Linda Hambrick, county assessor, said the new locations the county recently has opened provide better service to the taxpayers. The growth of business at the Rogers office shows the need was there before the move, she said.

"The increase has been fantastic," she said. "That parking has always been an issue, but we're taking care of that now."

The Bentonville location on Southwest D Street is picking up traffic as people become more aware of the location. The Gravette location on Arkansas 59 has also boosted the volume of business at that office, Hambrick said.

"It's much more visible to the people," she said. "We need to be where the taxpayers are."

Tena O'Brien, county clerk, said the Rogers office is a great improvement for early voting.

"From our experience, it's been wonderful," O'Brien said of the new Rogers location. "We were there for early voting in both the 2014 primary and general election. For voting purposes it was wonderful."

As part of the improvements in Rogers, a small office that was used by the Public Defender's Office will be moved to the Center for Nonprofits in Rogers. That space will be made available for customers as they queue up for the revenue office. Additional signs will be posted to direct people to the assessor and collector if they need to visit those offices first, Clinard said.

"We do know that not everybody who goes to that office goes to all three offices each time," he said. "Some go to the revenue office only. Some go to the assessor and collector and then go back to the revenue office another time."

NW News on 04/18/2015

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