County offices begin move this week

Several Flathead County departments will begin moving this week from temporary quarters in the Earl Bennett Building to refurbished office space in the former Blue Building now known as Courthouse West.

The Department of Motor Vehicles will be the first to make the move and will open for business on Friday at Courthouse West, 935 First Ave. W. in Kalispell.

The accounting department will be open in its new offices on Dec. 14; the Superintendent of Schools on Dec. 17; tax department on Dec. 21 and Family Court Services sometime later in December, according to Treasurer Adele Krantz.

New signs will direct county residents to the newly configured offices. On the upper floor, the motor-vehicle and tax departments will be situated on the south end and the accounting department on the north end.

Downstairs, the Superintendent of Schools office will be on the south end, and Family Court Services on the north end.

“It’s completely finished and it looks wonderful,” Krantz said of the $784,000 remodel. A new elevator is one of the amenities.

Krantz said lobby chairs are back-ordered, but the county will provide other seating until the new chairs arrive.

The renovation project began in June, and affected county offices have been in temporary quarters for the last six months.

The biggest change is that the landmark building is no longer blue; it’s now brown and tan. The building was erected in 1974 as temporary quarters for a growing county government and was long overdue for an upgrade.

The county commissioners decided last year to shelve plans for a new, $4 million administration building and instead use some of the $2.9 million set aside for that project to pay for improvements to both the Blue Building and the main Courthouse. The county used federal stimulus money to pay for additional insulation in the former Blue Building walls and ceiling.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com