On Tuesday, Webster County Treasurer Brenda Angstrom asked the Board of Supervisors to consider allowing her staff and office to relocate to the former U.S. Bank building across the street at 723 First Ave. S.

The building also houses the Webster County Attorney’s Office and Webster County Public Health.

The Treasurer’s office temporarily worked out of the bank building for one year while renovations were being done to the courthouse.

“The convenience for the customer was awesome,” said Angstrom. “We have at least two to three people each day ask us every day when we’re moving back over. The convenience of the drive-thru was great, and not just for the customer, but we had banks in Fort Dodge that would drop things off to us and they liked being able to drive-thru. So many people would use the drive-thru because of the convenience of it. It is something that really helped the elderly and handicapped who could not get out of their vehicle and up to the building as easily. The accessibility for handicap customers is a lot better over there than it is here, too.”

Angstrom also noted that customer privacy and noise levels would be better in the bigger space.

“In our office now, we have four stations and while we’re all trying to wait on our customers it’s loud and becomes hard to hear,” said Angstrom. “We’re speaking over each other, and also there’s a lot of privacy issues on the motor vehicle side that we have to protect for our customers. In a bigger space we’d be able to provide that privacy so that people aren’t hearing others’ conversations.”

According to Angstrom, the expenses to relocate the Treasurer’s Office would be minimal and would include new paint, carpet cleaning, new chairs, and window protectors.

Webster County Attorney Darren Driscoll noted that the HVAC system in the building needs to be fixed as it currently leaks into office spaces or doesn’t work properly. Driscoll purchased a portable air conditioner unit for the County Attorney’s Office that is currently venting hot air into the area that the Treasurer’s office would potentially work from.

The supervisors asked Angstrom about potential security concerns in the new location. Angstrom said that she had had conversations with Webster County Sheriff Luke Fleener about security protocols and also had spoken with detectives in the County Attorney’s Office and the bailiffs at the courthouse.

The supervisors decided that the HVAC system needed to be fixed first and also asked that more information be gathered about potential expenses and changes for the relocation. The conversation about relocation will be revisited at a future meeting.