County Clerk Steve Weir hopes to take possession of his new building in Martinez this month, but details of fine-tuning construction are expected to take a few more weeks. When it happens, he will have his offices, now scattered all over downtown Martinez, in one building.

If you want to register to vote, get birth or death records, file property documents, record a fictitious business name or get married, he promises more efficiency with expanded space for all his departments.

Election Night frequenters who come to view the results and discuss  them with other political junkies will be happy to know the Elections Office lobby area will be considerably larger to accommodate more of them. The office is only a block away from the old Main Street office, so it won't be a long walk to the restaurant and bar party sites nearby.

The building will also include two wedding rooms, nicely outfitted to enhance the occasion.

The county issues 4,000 marriage licenses a year and conducts about 800 of the resulting weddings in the tiny Recorder's office on Main Street. It is not at all unusual for Main Street regulars and visitors to observe fully-decked-out wedding parties waiting on the street for their event to be called.

Weir said the office does an average of two to three weddings a day, with much larger surges at popular wedding times such as Valentine's Day. The officiates are members of the Recorder's staff, several of whom particularly enjoy the half-hour or so it takes from their other duties.

He expects the number to go up with the two rooms available. At $100 for license and ceremony, it's a bargain for bride and groom and could bring in considerably more in county income than the current $30,000 a year.

So start planning that wedding and, while you're waiting, register to vote.  After all, if you're moving or changing your name, as often happens with weddings, you have to re-register anyway.

The new office is a block from the old Main Street office at 555 Escobar St., and at the corner of Marina Vista and Alhambra Avenue.

(posted 1-9-07)