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The county Board of Elections will be moving out of the old Broome Middle School in Rockville's Twinbrook neighborhood, but the county's drug addiction and mental health clinics will likely stay there a little longer.

Nearby residents have long complained that clients using those services, which include a methadone clinic, are a nuisance to the neighborhood.

The County Council will discuss on Monday whether to fund County Executive Isiah Leggett's nearly $2.3 million proposal to relocate the clinics to a building on Rollins Avenue in Rockville under a 10-year lease.

Of the $2.3 million, about $1.7 million would pay for the build-out of the facility. County staff estimates that annual rent would cost $695,000 beginning in fiscal 2011, with a total annual cost of $933,000.

In a joint meeting of the council's Management and Fiscal Policy and Health and Human Services committees last week, committee members voted 4-1 not to recommend the lease proposal. Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At large) of North Bethesda was the lone supporter.

Trachtenberg, a former social worker specializing in addiction care, said the Rollins Avenue location was an ideal one as it is near public transportation and state parole and probation services and is not near residential neighborhoods.

"Because for me the decision was not so much about building space, but more about optimal service delivery," she said.

Other council members said the cost of the Rollins Avenue lease is too high for what would be a temporary location.

"What we should try to do is find a permanent location that is both appropriate and reasonably cost for the clinic, which would be much better placed in an area other than where it is," County Council President Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg. "There's clear interest on the council to move the facility … but I don't want to have to move it again after 10 years."

County Councilman George L. Leventhal (D-At large) of Takoma Park agreed and said a more attractive option is the county police headquarters on Research Boulevard in Rockville, which was recommended by council staff.

"I think it's a better deal for the taxpayers," said Leventhal, who chairs the council's Health and Human Services Committee. "In a tough budget year it doesn't make sense to spend a couple million to improve someone else's property when we could be using our own property."

Moving the clinics to that location is dependent on the council's approval of Leggett's Smart Growth Initiative, which includes acquiring the GE Tech Park off Darnestown Road in Gaithersburg that would house county police headquarters, the 1st District police station and Fire and Rescue headquarters, among other government agencies.

Availability of the police headquarters is still a few years away. A council staff report estimates that after county police move out, renovation would then begin sometime after February 2011.

Leggett's proposal to move facilities is a result of meetings with residents who live near Broome at 751 Twinbrook Parkway and have said that the clinic's location in a residential neighborhood, next to Meadow Hall Elementary School and near Rockville High School, is inappropriate.

The clinics, which have been located at Broome for more than 20 years, offer services for people dealing with substance abuse and mental health disorders and a re-entry program for those released from prison.

"I know that I'm outraged and it sounds like the council members don't really believe it's as bad as it is," said Jennifer Espinoza, a Twinbrook resident who lives across the street from the clinics.

County officials responded with short-term solutions, including hiring part-time security guards during the hours when children are walking to and from school and installing security cameras.

Meanwhile, the Board of Elections, which has been at the Twinbrook site since the early 1980s, will be relocating to Gaithersburg.

Moving the elections board to a 54,000-square-foot space at 18753 N. Frederick Ave., in a partially filled warehouse that also fronts Game Preserve Road, is expected to cost $2.15 million in one-time costs, plus $650,280 per year in rent.

The agency's current two offices, totaling 40,000 square feet, are too small, while the aging Broome building does not have enough electrical power to meet the needs of modern voting systems, said Marjorie Roher, spokeswoman for the elections board.

"This building just is not adequate," she said.

The elections board was slated last year to move as part of Leggett's proposal at the GE Tech Park. But last summer, the elections board was scrubbed from the plan because the five-story office building at GE would not be ready in time for this year's elections, said David Dise, director of the county's Department of General Services.

Of the $2.15 million, $1.93 million is for build-out of the space and $223,000 is to install Internet technology and communications networks. The money would come from the county's general fund reserves and has already been assumed in Leggett's fiscal 2010 budget proposal.

The move will start June 22 and be completed by July 10, said Cynthia Brenneman, director of General Services' office of real estate.

Dise said there are no firm plans yet for what will move into the vacant space at Broome.

"But one of our priorities has to be the assessment of the building and plans for the renovation of that space," Dise said.

Also housed in the building is an interfaith clothing center and county recreation department offices.