ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — Yes, it’s been up for a while and it has been attracting a steady stream of clients to Robertsdale.

But the new Department of Human Resources building behind the Baldwin County Annex on Palmer Street, the site of the former Vanity Fair facility, had not been formally dedicated.

That oversight was corrected Oct. 16 when about 100 DHR workers, guests and dignitaries crowded into the conference room of the building.

The new building allows DHR services to be under one roof in Baldwin County, explained René Massey, the administrator of Baldwin County DHR.

“About 15 years ago we started in a small facility in Bay Minette,” said Massey.

The facility soon proved inadequate and some of DHR’s functions were transferred to “rented space in Robertsdale.

“We needed to do something,” said Massey. “The staff could not be together.”

Ground was broken on the facility along Palmer Street in June of 2007 and DHR moved in November of 2008.

Massey also chose to use the occasion for a personal announcement.

“This is the 30th new building (statewide) and I will be retiring at the end of this month.”

Massey, a resident of Orange Beach later said that she will be taking a month off and then will serve on boards or committees in the area.

“But I have never had the holiday season off,’ she said after the program. I want to see what that feels like.”

“On behalf of myself, I am happy we are all will be together under one roof,” said Massey.

County Commissioner Wayne Gruenloh added that the new building, named for the state DHR's deputy commissioner for fiscal and administrative services, P.L. Corley was one, “of the first things I was involved in” as a county commissioner. The DHR looked to counties to front the money for the offices, promising repayment.

“Yes, I think that is something we can do,” said Gruenloh to the laughter of the audience. He added that as a former foster parent, he thought this was a “really good project.”

Corley was present for the dedication.

“When I came to DHR 25 years ago, the department was working in poor older buildings, or leased facilities,” he said. While it was a novel idea at the time, the concept of getting local governments to participate in the buildings seems to have worked out.

“To have a building named for me is beyond my wildest expectations,” Corley said.