December 27, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
The county commission has put on hold, at least for now, funding to relocate the election commission headquarters from the first floor of the courthouse to unused office space at the county complex.
During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, the commission considered but failed to adopt a budget amendment for up to $110,000 from the fund balance as recommended by the budget committee to make proposed election commission office renovations at the new location along with the purchase of new office furniture, and setup of the IT network, etc. The vote was 6-4 against.
The reason behind the proposed move of the election commission office to the county complex was to tighten security at the courthouse while providing more office and storage space for the election commission. Even though the county complex has been in operation for 12 years, this particular location, originally intended for use by the county mayor’s office was never finished and remains unused.
However, some members of the county commission now question whether the county may be acting too hastily without considering other factors. For example, if the courthouse is eventually locked down and secured after hours could the county commission still hold committee meetings there. Some discussion has also been given to making the vacant history room at the county complex, where the county commission holds monthly workshop meetings, an actual history room which is what the new county Historian Freddy Curtis has suggested.
The regular monthly meetings of the county commission are held in the auditorium of the county complex also known as the Mike Foster Multipurpose Center, but that space is often rented out or used by groups at other times and not always available for county committee meetings and workshops.
“I feel that we as a commission may need to think this through,”” said Commissioner Sabrina Farler. “I do think the election office needs to leave the courthouse so we can secure it but I am not sure we have thought through the domino effect. When you move one office what else is going to happen? If we make this move for the election commission to go to the back of the county complex and we secure the courthouse, which needs to be done, where is the (county) commission going to meet? We need to determine where our meeting rooms will be. We need a plan,” she said.
Farler and others also have questions about whether the back-office space at the county complex is the right location for the election commission.
“I think (Election Administrator) Dustin (Estes) has done 110% into doing his job as the (county) commission has asked but I’m not comfortable making this allocation for the money and I’m not sure this is the right location. Maybe it is, maybe it’s not. I still have some questions,” said Farler.
“We did talk about moving the election commission to the history room and the arcade room (county complex),” explained Commissioner Larry Green.
“Yes, there was a discussion that the history room was an option, but I believe we decided there wasn’t enough space there for what they (election commission) needed. That’s why they ended up where they are (proposing to go),” said Commissioner Tom Chandler.
“Nobody ever put anything in a drawing that would show how much space is in the history room and arcade room (for election commission) like we did the back office (county complex). If you draw it out there may be more room there than in the back,” said Green.
“I don’t see how this (county commission meeting space) impacts whether or not we are going to move the election commission especially after all the effort that has been put into it,” said Chandler.
“If we turn the history room into an actual history room and give the election commission the back offices (county complex) where do we meet,” asked Commissioner Green. “My opinion is when we secure that courthouse, there will be no committee meetings in that courthouse,” he said.
“Why can’t we still have meetings in the courthouse,” asked Commissioner Glynn Merriman. “The sheriff is always there. We will still have protection,” he said.
“But when we have meetings in there the doors are unlocked (unmanned) and somebody could come in the courthouse and go anywhere they want to go. They could spend a night in the courthouse, and no one would ever know they were there,” explained Green.
“Where we would need to meet is a separate issue from voting on this,” said Commissioner Chandler.
Commissioner Merriman made a motion to adopt the budget amendment for up to $110,000 from the fund balance to renovate the proposed new election commission office location at the county complex and Commissioner Chandler offered a second to the motion but it failed on a 6 to 4 vote.
Those voting for the amendment were Tom Chandler, Tony Luna, Glynn Merriman, and Tony (Cully) Culwell. Voting against were Commissioners Larry Green, Beth Pafford, Myron Rhody, Greg Matthews, Jeff Barnes, and Sabrina Farler. Commissioners Mathias Anderson, Andy Pack, and Daniel Cripps were absent. Susannah Cripps’ seat is now vacant with her recent resignation.
The issue will most likely be referred to the public works committee for another look at options.