The Ventura County Department of Child Support Services will consolidate and move its operations to a new office in Camarillo by the end of February.

In hopes of expanding accessibility to the public and making services centrally located to county residents, the agency signed an $8.4-million lease over 10 years for a 48,600-square-foot office at 5171 Verdugo Way in Camarillo.

David Kim, John Ochoa and Grant Harris with Lee & Associates— LA North/Ventura Inc. transacted the lease.

The building belongs to an affi liate of Los Angeles-based real estate investment company Hill Street Realty.

Deborah Frahm, director of Ventura County DCSS, said the agency expects to open its doors at the Camarillo office on Feb. 27.

“We’re currently in more than one location,” Frahm said. “Our operations are all split up. This will allow us to bring everyone under one roof. It will be much more efficient. The new location also provides us with the space to have better public outreach.”

The agency, which enforces child support orders in Ventura County, has been searching for a new building since 2009.

The department currently operates out of two separate buildings in the county government center in Ventura and uses three off-site storage facilities.

The new office will house more than 200 DCSS employees and all of the agency’s files.

“This was a deal one year in the making,” Kim said in a statement. “We actually had to restructure space that housed four existing tenants in order to create a space that worked for the department.”

The county Board of Supervisors approved the lease in October.

According to Frahm, about 80 percent of DCSS clients in Ventura live in the eastern part of the county near Camarillo.

Besides consolidating operations under one roof, the Camarillo office will also provide space for the agency to carry out a new informational outreach program, which consists of orientations for custodial and noncustodial parents who want to learn more about the court process and DCSS services.

Orientations will be in English and Spanish, Frahm said.

The director also said DCSS staff hopes to begin moving to the new building on Feb. 14.

The offices in the Ventura County Government Center will be closed to the public from Feb. 21 through Feb. 24, but service will be available over the phone.

For more information about the Ventura County Department of Child Support Services, visit www.countyofventura.org or call (866) 901-3212.