Summit County Job and Family Services is on the move.
So are many other county offices.
On Friday, workers started relocating about 425 employees to the renovated Triangle Building at 1180 S. Main St. in Akron.
The county is consolidating several operations into the four-story, brick building and that means a major change for the public.
The most significant impact will be on people who use Job and Family Services, which has been spread out over several buildings in downtown Akron.
About 250 people a day seek help through the office and often have to navigate among those multiple buildings.
“Just the fact that we’re all going to be in one building on two floors and not in four buildings? You can imagine how much better the communication will be with us and with the clients,” said Pat Divoky, director of Job and Family Services.
County leaders also are happy that there will be free public parking, something not available now at the downtown sites.
Metro RTA has extended additional service to the new building, as well.
Job and Family Services closed at noon Friday for the move and will reopen at 7 a.m. Wednesday at the 160,000-square-foot Triangle Building, part of the former Bridgestone/Firestone tire-manufacturing complex.
The offices will be closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday and Tuesday as workers get accustomed to their new surroundings.
In the interim, anyone in need of emergency services should go to the Ohio Means Jobs Center at 1140 E. Tallmadge Ave.
Job and Family Services isn’t the only county operation making the move.
Others include the Summit County Land Bank, Department of Sanitary Sewer Services, Board of Revision and Summit Soil and Water.
Once all the moves are complete, the Triangle Building will house the largest concentration of county employees — even more than the Ohio Building downtown.
The moves also mean that there will be three vacant county-owned buildings downtown at 37 N. High St., 25 N. Main St. and 37 N. Main St.; and another at 2525 State Road in Cuyahoga Falls.
The county is attempting to sell those buildings.
The county doesn’t own the Triangle Building. Instead, it signed a 19-year, 11-month lease with property owner Amerimar Realty of Philadelphia, which used historical tax credits to renovate the structure.
The project represents a $24 million investment, the county said.
Jason Dodson, chief of staff for County Executive Russ Pry, said the county is paying about $1.5 million a year to rent the building.
Officials estimate the county will save about $10 million over the next two decades because of operational efficiencies.
Dodson noted, for example, that Job and Family Services won’t have to operate separate security as it did at its former locations.
“Since becoming county executive in 2007, my office has focused on streamlining and improving Summit County government by asking two things: Does it save the county money? And does it improve services for Summit County residents?” Pry said in a prepared statement. “For the relocation of these multiple offices … the resounding answer is ‘Yes’ to both questions.”
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ.