“The building is sponsored by the people that have supported our title office,” Tuttle said.
The 1607 Selma Road title office opened in 2019 and was the first in the state with a drive-thru option, Tuttle said. Since she ran for office in 2016, Tuttle said she envisioned customer service at the forefront, and drive-thru lanes are a big part of that.
Tuttle said she wanted to own the building housing the title office so she looked at either purchasing the current location or another building. A staff member alerted her to the KeyBank building being for sale and, in November after doing a walkthrough, Tuttle realized it has “everything we need and more,” she said.
The new building is in a better location and will be easier to find.
“We are still in a shopping center, but now we’re on a corner so we can say, ‘We’re at the corner of Burnett and Lexington’ and so we’ll be able to have better signage,” Tuttle said.
The location will be an overall improvement for employees, particularly since storage and restrooms are on the first floor unlike in the Selma Road building, Tuttle said. This would be a problem for any employees with mobility challenges.
The plan is to update the counters and flooring, re-paint the walls and update one of the drive-thru windows, Tuttle said. She said the parking lot was recently repainted and has handicap marked spots, unlike the current location.
In working on the new building, Tuttle said they will reflect on how they can improve the drive-thru option after five years.
She said she will soon start the paperwork to open a driver’s exam station at the new office in order to help alleviate the current backlog in the county.
Tuttle is keeping cost savings in mind with the new location and considering additions like solar panels or other investments, she said.
The KeyBank building was previously a gas station from the 1950s until to 1970s, Tuttle said. Because of this, there were concerns about gas tanks being left underground, but ground-penetrating radar found only old pipelines. The site passed an environmental and other inspections.
“We did the environmental studies to make sure it was a healthy place; there was no signs of asbestos or lead, and so it will serve my employees and be a healthy work environment for them,” Tuttle said.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
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