THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607040250
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREG BURT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 49 lines
For years, workers at the Kempsville Treasurer's Office have endured rainwater seeping down their office walls and customers complaining about hour-long lines.
They won't for much longer.
The office is moving to a new location that will not only be dry, but should make buying a city decal, paying a water bill or collecting food stamps less of a chore.
``We have waited a long time for this,'' said office supervisor Janice Eaton. The staff expects to vacate the 20-year-old office at the intersection of Kempsville and Princess Anne roads by early September and relocate just down the street at Fairfield Shopping Center on the corner of Kempsville and Providence roads.
As one of four city treasurer's offices in Virginia Beach, the Kempsville branch handles 30 percent of the total workload. Only the Bayside office, in the Haygood Shopping Center, handles more. Yet, for years, the number of customers at the Kempsville office has outweighed its capacity for service.
Chief Deputy Treasurer Richard Harrall has been trying to get the city to fund the relocation for years and finally his persistence paid off.
``The place is horrible,'' exclaimed Harrall, describing the present site.
Part of the problem, he said, is the size and the odd configuration of the office: 17 by 72 feet. This allows only one entrance and provides an impractical use of the space. The new facility in the Fairfield Shopping Center will have an extra several hundred feet of space in an office 37 by 44 feet. This new space will provide room for seven service windows, up from five in the present facility, and a separate window for food stamp distribution. Eaton, who has worked with the treasurer's office for 17 years, said the new location will will go a long way toward alleviating problems.
Including the water problem. All the present office has is rafters and no roof, chuckled Eaton, exaggerating the office's leaky condition. She recalled her worst day when there was ``a literal downpour in here'' with water leaking down the walls, threatening the computer equipment.
The new office will be in the shopping center's corner spot next to Regina's Hair Creations Unlimited. The surrounding shopping center also will provide better parking and a variety of shops, including a grocery and drug store, three banks and two gas stations.
Harrall said the move could be made over the Labor Day holiday weekend, so there shouldn't be any interruption in business. by CNB