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Lt. Julie Sutton, in charge of the sheriff’s Ramona substation, smiles as she greets visitors at the new counter in the substation’s new lobby at 1424 Montecito Road. Sentinel photo/Maureen Robertson

By Maureen Robertson

NEW DIGS IN OLD LIBRARY

—If employees and volunteers at the sheriff’s Ramona station seem to be stretching and smiling more, it’s likely because they’re no longer in cramped quarters and are getting used to having more room—double what they had before Ramona’s old library morphed into an expanded station.

The public entrance to the substation is the former front door of Ramona Public Library at 1424 Montecito Road. The library moved to its new building at 12th and Main streets in February, leaving about 5,000 square feet of vacant space—just what the sheriff’s substation needed.

Workers created the new lobby by adding walls. The new space is for the station’s administrative services, leaving more room for 24-hour patrol functions in the other area. Lt. Julie Sutton’s new office is in what was the library Children’s Room, and what once was the library’s Community Room now serves as a conference room for training and meetings. In a brief tour of the new area, a smiling Sutton points to the stove in the adjoining kitchen.

The renovation, which started in May, also includes space for Child Protective Services workers from the county Health and Human Services Agency office next door, giving that agency more room. A detective sergeant’s space has gone from a cubicle to an office, Sutton said, and an interview room and an area for station volunteers round out the remodel.

The prescription drug drop box hasn’t been moved yet from the old lobby. Until it is, prescription drugs may be brought to the new lobby. Because the renovation is not complete, Sutton was unable to provide a final cost.

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