Sibley County opens new service center

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

GAYLORD---There was a time not too long ago when blood pressure checks were made in the cafeteria at Sibley County Public Health, said director Mavis Pautz.

But now that Sibley County's new service center has officially opened up, just a few blocks away from the old building, office space and security are no longer an issue for Pautz or any of the Sibley County employees that now staff the building.

The center, located at 111 8th Street in Gaylord, hosted many visitors during an open house on Sunday afternoon.

County officials led tour groups through the various departments and explained their different functions as well as the differences between the new spaces and the old ones.

The new building opened in September after two years of debate, research, planning and construction. It represents a $2.2 million investment for Sibley County.

Many of Sibley County's services have moved into the building, freeing up more room in the county's 1916 courthouse and its 1974 annex, which are a few blocks north of the new building.

The newer, 24,386-square foot service center now houses the Sibley County Extension Service, information services, public health, public works, veteran's services, human services, emergency management and the Children's Collaborative under one roof.

Sibley County Commissioner Harold Pettis said the county's auditor, treasurer and environmental services will expand into the old spaces, which will include a new license bureau on the first floor of the annex. The district court offices on the annex's third floor will stay put. Pettis said any empty spaces could be used as conference rooms.

The movement towards a new facility began about two years ago when public health and human services employees began to have difficulty finding room for all the staff needed to run state-mandated services. Staff were having difficulty keeping confidential information private and also had problems with security, said Pautz.

The new building confines visitors to a common reception area that has two bulletproof service windows for Public Health and Human Services. To the left of the windows is a children's play area.

The doors that lead to the public health and human services departments use a security card, which Human Services Director Vicki Stock hopes will increase the amount of privacy clients have during visits and also help curb violent incidents.

In the Human Services section, a series of interview rooms lines the wall. Stock said interviews with clients were often disruptive, since case workers had to clean off their desks to protect confidential information beforehand. Each room has a name like Doheny's Landing for one of Sibley County's ghost towns, Stock said. Towards the back of the department are two more interview rooms--one that has a couch and a one-way mirror, the other with a table and video recording equipment for use in child protection situations.

From the Human Services section, the tour winds through a series of cubicles used by county staff into the office where the Extension and veteran's services, economic development corporation the and Children's Collaborative have their spaces, located just off of the building's west main entrance. The Sibley County Public Works Department is right across the hall. The Public Health section includes rooms for checkups and an area for WIC screening.