Harford County is renting more office space than it owns and paying more in leases every year, county officials said.

Rather than operating under one roof, agencies have spread into several buildings throughout downtown Bel Air and beyond. The county office building on South Main Street has reached maximum occupancy and cannot add another employee, even though the positions have been budgeted and filled, officials said.

In a county seat with little land left to develop and office space renting at a premium, county government needs workplaces that are accessible to the public, energy efficient, operationally effective and economically feasible, said Harford County administration director Lorraine T. Costello.

"We need space with room to grow, space that is in the best interest of serving citizens and a way to reduce our debt," she said. "We want to stop paying rent and start paying a mortgage."

Officials unveiled the $80 million Global Space Utilization Plan last week, hoping to win funding approval from the County Council and begin design work this year.

A combination of new construction and renovation would improve the work space for many of the county's nearly 1,500 employees and offer residents a "one-stop shop" to handle business with various agencies, officials said.

The Sheriff's Department, the Health Department, the state's attorney's office and the court clerk would also benefit from the expansion.

The phased plan calls for construction of a five-story, 165,000-square-foot building on county property at Main Street and Churchville Road and for another new building, most likely three stories with about 60,000 square feet, for the Sheriff's Department at 119 Hayes St., where the Health Department is located now.

In addition to offices at 45 S. Main St., part of which was built in the 19th century, the sheriff's staff is housed in two other buildings, one four miles away in Forest Hill.

"We are the largest, full-service sheriff's office in the state," said Sheriff L. Jesse Bane. "We need one central facility that allows for growth."

Once the Sheriff's Department leaves the Main Street building, the plan calls for renovating it for the offices of the state's attorney, which are currently in four locations in Bel Air. Storage for the state's attorney's office is in a fifth location, often called "the dungeon." The annual rent is nearly $600,000.

"Available space is a precious commodity in this town," said John R. Scotten, county treasurer.

Audio-visual equipment is housed in the foyer of the county courthouse, files spill out into hallways and the staff needs wheeled travel luggage to transport records from one building to another downtown.

"It means we have five receptionists, five waiting rooms and four conference rooms," said Diana Brooks, deputy state's attorney. "We still don't have a conference room large enough for staff meetings. We have to use a courtroom for that, if no trial is going on."

Moving the state's attorney's office across Main Street would allow for a reorganization of the courthouse, which also has no room to add staff and has employees doubling up in offices.

"Every nook is filled with court records," said Circuit Judge William Carr. "This plan is well thought out and long overdue."

The Health Department is working from 12 sites throughout the county. Its outdated Hayes Street building would be demolished and its administration and the environmental health division would move into the remodeled building at 220 S. Main St., the current administration building.

Much of the health care operations would relocate to the soon-to-be-built Southern Resource Center along the Route 40 corridor, where demand is high for health services.

"We have clients who must walk, with their counselors, from one location to another for services," said Susan Kelly, acting director of the Health Department. "We need to consolidate. The scattered locations are having an impact on delivery and continuity of services. "

County government operates in 24 buildings, 16 of them leased and all but three in Bel Air. Rents have increased steadily, typically 3 percent a year.

"With every lease, we have one more cost with no control," said Deborah Henderson, county director of procurement. "And we shift people around to buildings that are not functioning accurately."

Henderson hoped to convert a conference room into an office for a newly hired purchasing agent for her department, only to find the building was at its maximum occupancy. The new hire is reporting to Henderson from another building.

Phasing in the plan would eliminate disruption in services to the public, officials said. It would also allow the county to sell some of its smaller downtown buildings and to lease the building on Bond Street that houses the County Council.

The sales could yield about $6 million and if the county becomes a landlord, rentals could be as much as $14 million over the next 20 years, officials said.

"With interest rates low and construction companies begging for work, the time to do this is now," Costello said. "We will actually save money over the next 30 years."

The county has set aside $2.5 million this year to start designing the first phase of the plan, but must await a council vote.

mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com