Fort Madison, IA – The state of Iowa requires Lee County to provide office space for the Department of Human Services. The agency has employees in both Keokuk and Fort Madison.
Most of the Fort Madison-based DHS employees work in the North Lee County office Building. The rest share office space with employees of Iowa Workforce Development at another location in downtown Fort Madison.
DHS representatives have been meeting with Lee County for the last six months to see if all of its employees can be moved to one location. Vice Chairwoman Janet Fife-LaFrenz says the Lee County Board of Supervisors could vote on a plan, next week, to move all of the DHS employees to the North Lee County office building.
Fife-LaFrenz says the move would save Lee County about $1,200/month in rent for the additional DHS space. She says it would also improve communications and efficiencies for the state agency.
Fife-LaFrenz says DHS is not the only state agency interested in the North Lee County office building. She says Iowa Workforce Development wants to rent space, to the tune of $3,250/month.
Adding space for 6-10 employees would require the eastern quarter of the county building to be renovated. The existing cubicles would be replaced with walls and offices.
The project is expected to cost at least $110,000. It could be completed August 1 if the Board of Supervisors approve the relocation plans.
The relocation plan originally called for the DHS/IWD workers to work out of the secondary roads department, which would receive a new building. Fife-LaFrenz says a new building for secondary roads is still an option, just not with this proposal.