LAKEPORT >> The former Visitor Information Center in Lucerne will soon be used as a satellite office for the Lake County Department of Social Services, after a 4-1 vote was cast by the Lake County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
The county-owned building, which is located at 6110 Highway 20, was closed last October and has been vacant ever since.
According to Lake County Social Services Director Carol Huchingson, the department will use the ground floor of the building as satellite offices to be more easily available to the Lucerne community. The second floor of the building will be used as county storage, as it is not compliant with the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA).
A total of ten staff members will be on sight, with housing being “the anchor program and welfare eligibility services to added as vacancies are filled and staffing become available,” according to Huchingson.
The board discussed potentially selling the property and how it may affect social services.
“I never anticipated this to be a permanent location,” Huchingson said. “This is the beginning of expanding services in that area.”
District 3 Supervisor Jim Steele said that even in the event the property was put up for sale, it would probably stay on the market for some time. “Properties on that corridor aren’t selling like hotcakes,” he explained.
Chairman of the board Anthony Farrington expressed concerns with costs, citing other county projects such as Holiday Harbor, the Middletown Sheriff Substation and Marymount California University campus at the Lucerne Castle.
Huchingson said the cost should be “relatively minimal,” as the building would need little renovation to fit the social service department’s needs – with the exception of technological requirements.
Rob Brown, District 5 supervisor, said the Lucerne community “definitely warrants having a [social services] presence there.”
The use of the building would result in no costs to the county, as social services is funded with state and federal funds.
No rent will be paid to the county for the use of the building.
“The payment to the county is providing services in that community,” Huchingson said. “As well as maintaining the property … which has been going downhill since it became vacant.”
Contact J. W. Burch, IV at 900-2022.
