The Douglas County clerk’s office has a new, modern look.

After several months of renovation, employees have more elbow room, and files and documents are becoming more accessible.

“We wanted to find ways to be more efficient,” County Clerk Jamie Shew said. “There is so much paperwork that flows through here, and we need to handle it well.”

Shew held an open house in his office Thursday for other county employees, department heads and former employees to stop in and tour the office. Among the visitors was former clerk Patty Jaimes, who held the office 24 years before she retired and Shew was elected in 2004.

“There’s more working space. It’s cleaner and neater,” James said.

The office has new desks and chairs that allow more efficient use of space, Shew said, and there is a new carpet.

“We had a hodgepodge of various furniture pieces borrowed from other offices. It was odds and ends,” he said.

Cost of the renovation was about $70,000, Shew said. Money for the project had been set aside in previous years. The county also was able to take advantage of reduced costs by working through a state contract with certain vendors also available to other counties.

Documents also are being refiled, with some kept on sliding shelves in a vault. Bar codes are being placed on document files so employees can better track them. Shew and his employees are working with Watkins Community Museum of History to preserve extremely old documents, such as maps and land plats that need to be saved.

Shew said he hoped to eventually make some of the documents available online.