TAYLORVILLE, Ill. (WAND) - Since the 1970s, the Christian County Sheriff's Office has operated fully out of the same building. As part of a three phrase project, the administrative and investigative staff moved into a new building off of the Downtown Taylorville square. 

Staff moved into the new area two weeks ago, although there are still some construction projects underway. The new building has expanded storage room, a large conference room for training, and audio recording rooms, which they would usually need to travel to other departments to use.

"We would have to leave the sheriff's office to go there, do the interview, then come back," said Jim Baker, the Chief Deputy for the Christian County Sheriff's Office. "By us acquiring this building, we were able to install two of those audio video recording rooms. In addition, the investigators used to work jointly out of a one room, and now they have individual rooms. " 

Baker said he has already seen improvement in morale among his staff and they are creating an efficient workflow to tackle cases more quickly. By moving all of these operations into the new building, there is more room for services in the current jail facility. 

"We freed up some needed space inside the correctional facility that will be able to utilize for things like the medical storage and a new and improved safety oriented, intake area," said Baker. 

However, construction is not completed at the correctional facility yet. The roof has been replaced, but there are still some infrastructure updates slated for this year. This includes a new fire suppression sprinkler system, a balances HVAC system, and plumbing and electrical changes. 

Baker said these changes came after years of trying to determine what was best for the community and the office. The project is slated to cost 2.1 million dollars in ARPA funding. 

The public is welcome to attend an open house event on Friday April, 18th from noon to 4 p.m.

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