The Valencia County Commission is considering relocating District Attorney Lemuel Martinez’s office to Los Lunas to ease the costs the county pays to lease space in Belen’s four-story Wells Fargo building.

The office was expected to be located in Belen only temporarily while a new district attorney’s office was constructed near the new 13th Judicial District Courthouse. The funding for a new office never materialized, however, and the Belen location has become permanent.

On Wednesday, County Manager Eric Zamora said the county might move the district attorney to vacated offices on the second floor of the old courthouse.

“We’re currently looking at what it would take to move the district attorney’s office,” Zamora said.

He said Martinez is most concerned with whether or not the county can provide adequate security to keep people from accessing sensitive information.

Commissioners expressed concern about the rising cost of leasing the Belen office space, with the lease up for renewal in May.

“The rent has gone up every year,” Commissioner David Medina said.

They were equally concerned that the cost of renovation to the old courthouse’s second floor could be too high to be financially feasible.

“We need to see what it’s going to cost us dollar for dollar,” Medina said.

Commissioner Ron Gentry recommended using money from a $275,000 American Recovery and Reinvestment weatherization grant to fix up the second floor. Zamora said the grant can be used for anything related to energy efficiency.

“Can we use it to remodel bathrooms, paint walls? Probably not,” he said.

Gentry said money for a new county administration building never materialized either, so it could be a wise investment for the county to spend money renovating the old courthouse, where the county administration is currently housed.

This page was published on February 19, 2010 at 9:54am and is filed under Economy.