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New Facility To House Clerk Of Court, Property Appraiser

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By TOM BRENNAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 5, 2007

BRANDON - Thickets of cables and wires stretch from the ceiling. The musk of wet paint wafts through the building. Workers scurry, making the final construction touches on the new county government service center on Pauls Drive.

County officials will do a walk-through this week to create their final punch list as they begin ordering furniture and other fixtures with an eye toward a mid-February opening of the $4.2 million facility.

"We'll get in as soon as we can without disrupting our existing services," said Circuit Court Clerk Pat Frank, whose office will be one of the center's primary tenants. The circuit court staff will move from a smaller space in Brandon Crossings office center off Adamo Drive.

"This will give us twice the size of our existing office, so we can have additional staff, a larger waiting room and better parking," Frank said.
Property Appraiser Rob Turner, whose offices will be the center's other main client, anticipates moving in by March.

"It is a much more centrally located site for us," he said.

The center will bring county service offices to central Brandon, saving area residents trips to downtown Tampa. The county started designing the building in 2004, matching its architecture with the structures to be built as part of the Brandon Main Street district - the building is close to the street with a broad sidewalk, and parking is in the rear.

The building is on a 4.5-acre, L-shape lot that wraps around the Bank of Tampa at the southeast corner of Pauls and Oakfield drives. The regional service center fronts Pauls south of the bank.

The property on Oakfield, east of the bank, has been set aside for a three-bay fire station. Bill Hand, the county's project manager, said construction of the station should begin in 2008.

In addition to the circuit court clerk's office, the government center will house the property appraiser's office, currently at Bay Plaza, also off Adamo. It also will have a 200-seat town hall meeting room that can split for smaller meetings, Hand said. A new conference room will accommodate up to 20 people.

The county's Water Resource Services team will have an informational kiosk, and the Planning and Growth Management Department will take over the meeting rooms as needed, Hand said.

Original plans had other county agencies sharing the roughly 20,000-square-foot center, but the Circuit Court Clerk and Property Appraiser opted to expand their space, Hand said.

Turner said the center will become his office's primary computer center. He said his part of the building has been reinforced to withstand natural disasters and will have backup electrical generators.

"We see it as a more dependable location in case of emergencies," he said.

Frank said the circuit court clerk staff will offer almost all of her office's services, except for setting court dates and some criminal court functions. Civil lawsuits will be handled, except mental health issues.

Couples can get marriage licenses - and get married, she said. People also can officially enter records, including deeds and mortgages.

County commissioners voted in 1998 to fund the government service center through the Community Investment Tax, the half-cent sales tax voters approved two years earlier. Commissioners voted in 2001 to build the center within the Brandon Main Street boundaries.

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 657-4528 or tbrennan@tampatrib.com.

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