Chautauqua County officials are mulling an offer to move most of the county’s Jamestown offices into the Chautauqua Mall.

The fact that such a move makes financial sense for the owners of the Chautauqua Mall speaks volumes about the state of retail businesses in Chautauqua County right now. There are seemingly as many restaurants and service agencies in the mall as retailers, a sign that big box retailing in Chautauqua County just doesn’t pay like it used to.

But the county’s move is a curious one on one front. For years the county kept offices in Dunkirk and Jamestown because the cities were where the bulk of those who needed services live.

The question we have is less about cost – though that needs to be discussed publicly since it wasn’t part of the presentation at the December meeting of the County Legislature – and more about making sure the mall works as a location for county offices for those who have transportation needs.

In the end, this move isn’t about county money, the cost to the city of Jamestown as it loses a tenant in City Hall, CHQ Transit, which stands to gain riders, or even the mall, which is looking at ways to boost foot traffic to remaining retailers. The biggest question that has to be answered is if those who use county services and have regular appointments with county officials can get to the Chautauqua Mall or not.

County services are often used by those who are struggling to make ends meet or who are vulnerable. While county officials say CHQ Transit can help get those who need to get to appointments from Jamestown to the Chautauqua Mall, we wonder how well that will work. Removing offices from downtown Jamestown also makes it harder for county workers to get out of the office if they have to do site visits.

There was a time when we would have been disappointed to see prime retail space used for offices. But we’ve come to accept that this is the way of development in this day and age. We struggle to attract new things. Development, too often, is more about reshuffling the deck chairs than adding new deck chairs. With that said, the best we can hope for is that this particular configuration of deck chairs works for as many people as possible.