COLUMBIANA CO. Officials collect elevator funding

Regulations require the modification before an upper floor can be used.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- The second floor of a building recently purchased by Columbiana County sits vacant, but that's expected to change with the installation of an elevator later this year.
Commissioners have gathered nearly $160,000 for the new lift and engineering services, Commissioner Jim Hoppel said Thursday.
The two-story building, on Market Street downtown, has stairs to its upper floor. But an elevator is needed to meet federal requirements that the top floor, if used as a public office, be accessible to people with disabilities.
About $130,000 of the money available will be in federal grants, and the remainder will be drawn from a court fund, Hoppel said.
The funds should be just enough to do the job, which has been estimated to cost nearly $152,000, Hoppel said.
Whether the task is undertaken this spring or summer, as hoped, will depend largely on receiving bids for the work that don't exceed the money available, he added.
Learning more about it
Commissioners expect to learn more about the project at their meeting Wednesday, when an architect from Hanahan, Strollo & amp; Associates Inc., Columbiana, presents preliminary designs, Hoppel said.
The firm is interested in being hired by the county to do the job's design portion, he added.
Once work begins, it's expected to last about two months.
The building already houses the county law library, which used to be about a half-block away in the courthouse basement.
State regulations demand that counties provide law libraries, which aren't public but are used by judges and lawyers for legal research.
The library's former spot was too small, county officials said. The basement room in the courthouse has since been converted into county sheriff offices.
The 8,500-square-foot former bank that will be getting the elevator was purchased by the county last spring for $206,000.
Source of funds
Money for the purchase came from a court fund fueled from criminal cases, plus a $41,000 contribution from the county bar association.
Commissioners have yet to decide what county office will be moved to the building's second floor, Hoppel said.
Thought has been given to relocating part of the county's job and family services office, which is crammed into a decaying building off Market Street.
Office room is scarce among county departments.
The 19th-century courthouse already is jammed, and some offices, like the elections board and county clerk's title department, have spilled over into nearby buildings.
leigh@vindy.com