Some Social Services Staff Moves to East County : Simi Valley: Employees applaud relocating to the courthouse and say their closer proximity will benefit area clients.

More than two dozen county workers on Wednesday began setting up shop in Simi Valley’s East County Courthouse, in preparation for handling child-abuse cases and helping elderly and disabled residents in Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Moorpark.

The Public Social Services Agency workers moved from Ventura as part of an effort to bring county services closer to residents in eastern Ventura County.

Earlier this year, 11 employees with the county’s Building and Safety Division moved into the two-story, partially vacant courthouse that is best known as the trial site of the first Rodney G. King beating case.

One of the relocated social workers, Barbara Harris, said the move will benefit her and her clients.

“We’re all very excited about being here,” Harris said. “I think this is going to give us a chance to provide services in the east county that we weren’t able to provide before.”

Harris said she previously drove across the county twice each day: once to get from her Newbury Park home to her office in Ventura and again to return to the east county, where she investigates reports of abuse of elderly people.

“The response time will be quicker,” Harris said. “I’ll have more access to clients and to the social services agencies we work with.”

On Wednesday, Harris was learning how to use a new phone system and working out of boxes surrounding her new desk.

Around her, county employees and private contractors finished building and wiring the cubicles where she and her colleagues will work. The ladders, power tools and extension cords are expected to be gone by the end of the week.

It cost about $150,000 to construct and furnish the 7,500-square-foot office, said Tony Murguia, a county facilities manager.

He said the county kept the costs down by reusing some furniture and by having county technicians set up the electrical and phone systems. “It’s an incredibly economical move,” he said.

The Simi Valley site will house about one-third of the county children’s protective services staff, said Sally Allen, manager of the new office. Many of the workers already live in the east county, and no one was forced to relocate, she said.

“We ended up getting enough volunteers,” she said.

Eventually, about 30 workers will be based in Simi Valley when several vacant jobs are filled, Allen said.

For several years, the department had hoped to split its staff into two locations, but county administrators did not approve the move until late last year.

“We’ve been interested in diversifying and decentralizing the services because it’s more responsive to the community’s needs,” Allen said.

County Supervisor Vicky Howard, whose office is also in the courthouse, has been pushing for greater use of the $11-million, 75,000-square-foot structure, which opened in 1991.

Two court commissioners hear traffic and civil cases in the building, but the county has never fully used the courtrooms because it lacks the money for new judges and support personnel.

In the meantime, Howard has helped persuade county departments to put offices in the courthouse so that east county residents will not always need to travel to Ventura for services.

“Obviously, we have a significant population here that needs to be served,” Howard said.

The courthouse is now at least 75% occupied, and the supervisor said she wants to see the remaining space used.

In the near future, she said, the county hopes to open a small coffee shop, where workers at the courthouse and nearby government buildings can buy lunch or a snack.