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JACKSON – Some departments in Northampton County have recently moved into new offices, but their old spaces will not remain vacant.

The county’s new Administration building, located beside the new courthouse, now houses the Tax Department, Register of Deeds Office, Land Records, Finance, Human Resources, and the County Manager’s Office.

County Manager Julian Phillips told the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald that the offices vacated in the move will be used as additional space for other county departments.

“The [former] tax department and Register of Deeds offices will be occupied by Sheriff Office staff,” said Phillips.

The Sheriff’s Office, however, will continue to be headquartered in its current building at 105 W. Jefferson Street, Jackson.

Likewise, Northampton County’s Health Department will continue to operate out of its usual office at 9495 NC Hwy 305, Jackson. But they will also expand to utilize more office space in the former administrative building.

That building will also continue to house the county’s Veteran Affairs Office and the Economic Development Office as before.

Phillips said these office expansion moves are still in progress.

Last year, the new Northampton County Courthouse opened just down the road from the historic courthouse building, and all of the county’s court-related offices moved to the new building.

As for the old courthouse, Phillips said two of its floors are currently being utilized as the main office for the newly-established Public Defenders Office, which serves citizens of the four-county judicial district (Northampton, Bertie, Hertford, and Halifax). That office is headed by Tonza Ruffin, Chief Public Defender for the district.

The courthouse and some of the surrounding buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. When asked about any preservation plans for those buildings, Phillips said the county is planning to preserve them, but he had no specifics to share at this time.