Election board seeks to move office site

Election board seeks to move office site

Heavy rains and a tennis ball helped flood the board of elections.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

LISBON — Members of the Columbiana County Board of Elections want to move their office to a proposed site at the northern edge of the village.

Elections officials went to the commissioners Wednesday morning after the board offices at 41 N. Park Ave. were partially flooded Tuesday night.

“We’re 100 percent behind you for the new building,” said Larry Bowersock, the elections chairman.

But Ryan Hillman, president of the Lisbon Area Chamber of Commerce, said that moving the elections board and veteran services, which employ a handful of workers, and the 160 members of the county’s Department of Job Family Services, to the northern site would economically kill the village.

Bowersock and board member Patty Colian, who are friends of Hillman’s, directly told him directly of their desire to move.

“I respect their opinion,” Hillman said.

Hillman maintained if the offices move away from the downtown, “It will be bad for everybody.”

The commissioners have approved a six-month option to buy land for the proposed building.

Hoppel said that the county has $1.2 million in grants for the building, and needs about $2 million more in grants to build it. The DJ FS would also pay rent to help cover the costs.

There was no water damage to the county’s million-dollar voting machines, Bowersock said.

There was damage to floors, walls and possibly the roof, Bowersock said. Officials didn’t make a financial estimate of the damage.

Commissioner Dan Bing, board chairman, said the area received 2.75 inches of rain Tuesday night.

The commissioners called a contractor Wednesday to look at the roof. Commissioner Jim Hoppel said the contractor discovered a tennis ball had plugged the roof drain on the north side of the building.

The interior water damage was heaviest along the north and west walls.

Bowersock wondered if the weight of the water on the roof had caused structural damage.

The commissioners have not found an independent expert to determine if the DJ & FS building could be renovated. That building also has flooding problems.

wilkinson@vindy.com