Employees of the Callaway County Public Defender's Office Wednesday were helping movers position desks, filing cabinets and other office equipment at the office's new location at 2800 Cardinal Drive in Fulton.
Public Defender Justin Carver said he and other employees are pleased to be able to move into new office space.
"This is much better than where we were located previously. I am grateful to the county for providing this new office space. We have more usable space here," Carver said.
Officials from the Public Defender's Office and the Callaway County Juvenile Office occupy all of the space in the building. Each agency has about half of the building.
Officials from both departments were able to design the office space the way they wanted it and new walls were erected to fit their exact needs.
New carpeting was installed and offices were repainted.
"This is terrific. We want to thank the county for the move, especially members of the Callaway County Commission. They have been so helpful in providing this new space," Carver said.
Callaway County had been paying $47,000 a year to lease space for the public defender and the Callaway County Juvenile Office. In a long range plan to save the annual rental cost, the Callaway County Commission recently decided to purchase the building on 5.5 acres at 2800 Cardinal Drive for $300,000. Renovation costs were included in the purchase price.
"We have to complete our move on Friday. We have court cases then and we need to be ready to roll," Carver said.