Off-site from courthouse

The Lawrence County land bank will have its own office space, taking over the former All State Insurance office at 327 Vernon Street in Ironton.

The land bank, which was started in the county last summer, is headed by Lawrence County Treasurer Stephen Burcham, and has been seeking permanent office space to operate.

“Tuesday, we’ll be assembling furniture and getting the office ready throughout the week,” Burcham said. “By the end of this week, we should be fully occupied and operational.”

Initially, the land bank wanted office space in the courthouse. However, with no sufficient space available, the land bank office had to be off-site.

“We’ll be able to tap into the information we need from the tax program through the Auditor’s office and Treasurer’s office, and we’ll be able to get some records,” Burcham said. “The only thing we won’t have is all of the records available. If someone would need something that we aren’t able to get, they would have to go to the courthouse.”

Burcham said that the office has a one-year lease on a month-to-month basis, meaning it can move out at any time with 30 days notice.

“We’re happy we’re still close to the courthouse,” Burcham said. “But we’re still hopeful to find adequate space in the courthouse sometime in the future.”

Burcham added that the land bank wishes to be at the courthouse because the cost of rent detracts from money that could be used to pursue demolitions and normal land bank operations.