County Will Shift Staff to Simi Courthouse : Government: Two agencies will move workers into the near-empty building to improve services for eastern residents.

Two Ventura County agencies will move 59 workers to Simi Valley to boost services in the east county and make better use of the near-empty courthouse where the Rodney G. King beating trial took place, officials said Thursday.

County Supervisor Vicky Howard, whose office is in the East County Courthouse, said that less than a third of the two-story, 75,000-square-foot building is occupied.

That will change in April, she said, when Children’s Services workers will move there from Ventura, along with Building and Safety employees now renting offices in Thousand Oaks.

“The space is available and sitting there unused,” said William Windroth, head of the Building and Safety Division. “The county is already paying for it. We’ll just be putting it to a practical use.”

Howard said that it will be at least five years before the county can afford to hold felony trials in the courthouse and that other county agencies should use the space until that time.

After the relocations, the building will be about 80% occupied, she said, and east county residents will no longer have to trek to Ventura for meetings with these agencies.

“I’ve been twisting arms as much as I can,” the supervisor said. “We feel we haven’t gotten enough services out here.”

The $11-million courthouse on Alamo Street opened March 15, 1991. County officials had hoped it would provide a second location for felony trials, which now take place only in Ventura.

But the county has never fully used the building because it lacks funds for new judges and support personnel.

However, the courthouse briefly became a hub of activity earlier this year when Los Angeles County borrowed space in it for the King case.

Two court commissioners now hear civil and traffic cases at the courthouse.

Douglas Miller, head of the Children’s Services Division, said he proposed three years ago that some of his staff be moved to the new courthouse.

“Half of the population of the county is on the east end, and at least a third of our activity originates in the east end,” he said.

But Miller said county administrators initially rejected the idea, insisting that the building should only be used for court services.

More recently, however, county leaders changed their minds and found money for the move. Miller said he will transfer 35 of his 150 employees to the second floor of the courthouse next spring and up to 13 more in later months.

These workers handle child-abuse cases and oversee family services, foster care, child-care licensing and adoptions.

Miller said it will be easier for his staff to respond to east county calls and meet with east county families when the moved is completed.

Howard added, “A lot of the people who use these services do not have transportation. So it’s a real hardship for them” to travel to Ventura.

The construction and furnishing of Children’s Services offices in the courthouse is expected to cost $150,000. Howard said federal funds are available to cover up to two-thirds of this expense.

At the same time, county officials expect to save $32,000 a year in rent by moving 11 Building and Safety workers from a Thousand Oaks office to the courthouse. These workers check building plans and inspect projects in unincorporated areas of the east county.

No new employees will be hired in connection with the moves, county officials said.