Residents in northern Oconto County have a new location to access county services. The northern satellite office moved to the Lakewood Administrative Building, 17181 Twin Pines Road, last month.
The satellite building brings county services — law enforcement, zoning and veterans assistance, among others — to Northwoods residents, saving them the 50-mile trek to the Oconto County Courthouse in Oconto.
“I’m hoping it works very well for everyone,” Lakewood Town Chairman Joanne Roy said. “We certainly didn’t want to lose them up in our area, because it’s a long drive for our residents to go to Oconto.”
The satellite office was previously located at 17340 State Highway 32, Townsend, at a building leased since 2000 by the five northern towns of Doty, Lakewood, Mountain, Riverview and Townsend.
On July 16, representatives of the town boards voted unanimously to end funding for the office and encourage Oconto County to pick up the tab. The group decided in 2013 not to extend the building’s three-year lease, which expires June 30.
According to Oconto County Administrative Coordinator Kevin Hamann, county officials realized if they wanted to keep an office in the north, the county would become solely responsible for the cost. Officials looked at four or five different locations, including vacant buildings and local town halls, before negotiating to lease space at the Lakewood Administrative Building.
“We wanted something that was a little bit more centrally located (than the previous office), in town, because that’s were people congregate,” Hamann said.
The administrative building is located in Lakewood, next to the grocery store.
“We think it’s a good deal for everybody,” Hamann said. “It’s centrally located, cheaper, closer to where people congregate, and it’s a newer building.”
The County Board on March 19 approved a three-year lease, effective April 1, for two offices and a conference room, which Hamann said will provide adequate space.
“It’s going to be a little smaller, we’re going to have less storage, but that’s fine,” he said.
Technology has changed the use of the satellite office for the sheriff’s department, Hamann said. When the satellite office opened in 2000, deputies used the office to file their reports.
“Now that’s all done on their computer in the car, so their offices are really in their car,” Hamann said.
The sheriff’s department uses the satellite office for interviews, meetings, and the initial storage of recovered property and evidence.
The county will pay $200 a month, or $2,400 a year, including utilities, to lease the space in Lakewood. Previously, the county paid the Highway 32 office utilities, which in 2014, cost $3,447.
To make room for county employees, Lakewood officials shifted their offices around. Roy now shares an office with the town treasurer, and the town assessor moved into the chairperson’s office.
William Bartz, one of Oconto County’s assistant zoning administrators, moved into the office vacated by the assessor at the building’s entrance. A window from his office is open to the public.
The town plan commission office was relocated from a back corner of the building to a vacant office elsewhere, providing space for the sheriff’s department, which has access through the rear of the building.
The town will continue to use the conference room for board meetings and other town business, but the room is also available to the county.
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