Out with the old and in with the new– location that is.  Director of Social Services Bill Burleson gave the Botetourt View a tour of the new building in Daleville. The site is a huge improvement over the cramped and two story offices housed in Fincastle for decades. Matter of fact, Burleson showed us the handicapped accessible bathroom on the ground floor as one of the many improvements for clients.

“One of our difficulties in the past has been to provide easy access. Here we have level parking and everything is  on one level. We have a conference  room that has its own entry and that will help as well when we have parenting classes and other meetings. The staff members have spacious offices and  plenty of storage, too,” he said.

“We are making referrals to Goodwill which is on the same street and our food stamp clients have easy access to Kroger. It is a much more central location,” he said. DSS moved mostly on April 27 and are still getting settled.

The spacious interior is bright and cheerful. “The two intake rooms beat an old kitchen crowded with file cabinets,” he said. The new areas give the staff plenty of space as well. One interior space is filled with several dozen file cabinets.   For the first time they have a phone system that allows clients to leave voice mail as well.

Burleson sees a better future serving clients because everything is more accessible.