Guthrie County is getting closer to having its public and environmental health departments under the same roof. The two departments, along with the Adair and Guthrie County Emergency Management Agency are scheduled to be at the same location by the end of the month.

Public Health Director Jotham Arber is looking forward to the administrative simplicity of having everyone in one location.  “It just seemed like a good fiscal move to be fiscally responsible. There’s one administration so you don’t have overhead through the roof. We administrate all three departments.”

Arber also believes this will ultimately benefit the community. “The other goal of this whole improvement was to create a space where people could come in from the community and access these services and know where they all were. A ‘one stop shop’ if you will. Public health and environmental health are so intertwined that it just makes sense.”

The transition process started in March with a goal to move everyone into the building in October. However, the acquisition of responsibilities at the County Transfer Station delayed the progress. As part of the move, Genesis Development will eventually move their offices in Guthrie Center to the courthouse. For more on the renovation progress listen to Arber on today’s Let’s Talk Guthrie County program.