The offices of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services in Bangor has moved from Griffin Road to the corner of Maine Avenue and Hammond Street into a building formerly occupied by Bangor Savings Bank.
The Community Connector, Greater Bangor’s public transportation system, has adjusted its bus route to accommodate those needing DHHS services, the city announced Monday. Passengers may get to the new location using the Hammond Street route.
The move was completed last week, according to Jackie Farwell, spokeswoman for DHHS. She said the new building offers more security, upgraded and more efficient heating and cooling systems and more conference room and storage space.
It also offers more square footage and can be utilized by more staff, she said. The old building, located at 396 Griffin Road, had about 35,000 square feet. The new one at 19 Maine Ave., has nearly 44,000 square feet.
Rent is $701,321.52 annually, which is about $15.95 per square foot, Farwell said.
The need for more space in Bangor was announced in early 2017 and the department’s lease at the Griffin Road building, where the department had been for nearly four decades, expired at the end of last year. The Bangor Savings Bank building became available earlier this year after the bank consolidated its Bangor offices into a new waterfront complex.
About 220 staff work out of the new DHHS office, Farwell said. In 2017, when the need for more space was made public, about 200 people worked in the Griffin Road facility.
The majority of the staff in Bangor work for the Office for Family Independence and the Office of Child and Family Services, she said. Those offices process applications and renewals for public assistance programs and the handling of child welfare cases.
At least nine new employees will work out of the Maine Avenue office — seven caseworkers, a case worker aide and a supervisor, according to Farwell. Three of the caseworkers will be assigned to investigate reports of child abuse and neglect while the other four will work with families in need of ongoing services and support.
DHHS has added 100 new workers to its Office of Child and Family Services since October and is expected to hire 62 more with new funding in the two-year state budget that took effect July 1, Farwell said in June.
The additional funding to hire more people came in the wake of the high-profile deaths of two girls, 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy and 4-year-old Kendall Chick. Their brutal slayings set off a series of state investigations and other efforts to protect vulnerable Maine children.