Putnam Veterans Office Now Setup And Open On Highway 70

The Putnam County Veterans Services team has completely moved into it new office on Highway 70.

Veterans Service Office Mark Harris said the old building was built in 1950 and not intended for office use. Harris said they used to go through another officer’s space as passage to his space, which led to meeting interruptions. He said the new space is working better for everyone.

“It’s great,” Harris said. “Most importantly, when people ask me how do I like it, I ask how they like it. And everyone likes the new faciltiy and the privacy it offers.”

Harris said they had added an administrator and they now have both drop-in and scheduled appointments.

Harris said the new space works better for the appeals process. He said he used to handle the appeals sitting at his desk on his computer with the veteran and spouse and the other service officer in the background.

“Now we’re going to be doing these appeals in a conference room, a much more comfortable position,” Harris said. “You’re not sitting behind someone else’s desk. It makes it nice for the veteran and usually the spouse that accompanies the veteran to be part of the appeals process.”

Harris said the new building shares space with the county archives. He said it won’t be long before veterans can browse Putnam County veteran’s uniforms, presentations, photos and historical documents when they come to visit for services.

Harris said the gravel parking lot will be graded with asphalt soon.

“And a sign is going in so people driving and down seventy or Broad Street will know we’re here,” Harris said.