By Shmuel Binder. As one of the busiest and most central locations for obtaining County services, Lakewood residents will be glad to hear that the Northern Ocean County Resource Center on Fourth Street is expecting a makeover.

At the May 15th County Freeholders meeting, the board resolved to appropriate a maximum of $2.7 million to improvements to the center which sits opposite Town Hall in Lakewood’s downtown. The county has already appropriated approximately $135,000 in cash toward this project with the remaining $2,556,000 set to come from bond monies.

According to Michael J Fiure, Assistant County Administrator, the project is still in the early design phase with bidding scheduled for late 2019. However, he did confirm via email that, in addition to other possible improvements, the work will include upgrades to buildings systems including HVAC and electrical; increased efficiencies in existing office space, enhanced security upgrades to entrances and facility operations, roof repairs and reorganization of services within the facility.

At this time, the County is evaluating the building to determine if changes need to be made to enhance security. This includes but is not limited to redesigned entrances, visitor flow within the facility, and potentially reallocating where each service within the building will be located going forward.

The Northern Ocean County Resource Center is home to multiple services crucial for all Lakewood residents. Apart from housing a local County Board of Social Services office that handles Welfare, Food Stamps and Medicaid, the building is also the site of Lakewood/Jackson Outreach Center, which administers a Meals on Wheels program, access to County Clerk services for United States passports, election registry and notary services; the Ocean County Health Department Well Baby Clinic, immunizations clinic and other services.