Stearns County Service Center grand opening

Stearns County is holding an open house to celebrate the grand opening of its new Stearns County Service Center.

The event will be from 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, Oct. 24. There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10:30. Attendees will have opportunities throughout the morning to tour the new facility, explore exhibits and see slideshows and enjoy cookies and refreshments.

Commissioners, legislators, and local leaders will be on hand to help mark the occasion.

Everyone is encouraged to bring their families out to see the new 45,000 square foot, ENERGY STAR designed, Stearns County facility. The grand opening event and tour will not only show the grandeur of the building and tout the services offered there, but will highlight some of the facilities’ unique characteristics, such as the License Center drive-through and all of the building’s “green” features.

This facility focuses on the environment, with its energy-efficient building design, eco-friendly landscaping and environmentally practical construction features: such as the geo-thermal heating and cooling system, sidewalk pervious pavers, daylighting/motion-sensored lights, office natural lighting, rain gardens, recycled and recyclable carpet, fluorescent light bulbs, prairie restoration fields and low gas-emitting latex paint. All designs which will greatly reduce energy costs and County maintenance costs.

The Stearns County Service Center, which houses License Center West, Human Services Public Health Division and Human Services Community Corrections Division, is located at 3301 County Road 138 in Waite Park. County Road 138 is about one block west of Mills Fleet Farm off 28th Avenue South.

If anyone has any questions about the Stearns County Service Center grand opening open house celebration, they can call the County Administrator’s Office at( 320) 656-3601.