Elections board to move to Oakhill

January 21, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

As county maintenance workers prepare space for the board of elections at Oakhill Renaissance Place, elections officials will meet with representatives of Olsavsky-Jaminet Architects in the next few days to discuss final details of the board’s needs.

“This space has to be as good as we can possibly make it,” architect Ray Jaminet said. “It’s my job to make it work,” Jaminet told the county building commission in a Thursday meeting at Oakhill.

That commission oversees renovations for county agencies moving into Oakhill, which is the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.

Pete Triveri, county facilities director, told the commission the board’s space on Oakhill’s first floor will be ready for occupancy nine to 11 weeks from now.

Because of the May election, however, the board can’t move from the county’s South Side Annex on Market Street to Oakhill until June or July, said elections Director Tom McCabe.

As renovations are proceeding now, there is a single 9-foot-long public- service counter for the board’s Oakhill space, but McCabe said the board needs an additional counter. The board has a 75-foot-long counter at the annex.

Tracie Kaglic, Oakhill renovations coordinator at Olsavsky-Jaminet, said counter length and location are limited at Oakhill by the presence of structural- support columns and plumbing conduits.

Kaglic said the room layout is largely remaining intact in the board’s space. The work being performed in the board’s new quarters includes patching of plaster, painting and installation of new ceilings, carpeting, and electrical, telephone and computer wiring, she added.

McCabe said he has been frustrated because county officials and representatives of the architectural firm have given him several tentative moving dates beginning in December 2009.

Thinking the board would actually be moving during the first few weeks of this year, the board packed its equipment for the move and now is unpacking, he added.

“It really looks like we are close. We know we’re going to move. The space can certainly work,” said Mark Munroe, board vice chairman.

“We just want a firm date to move,” he said. “Let us know, and we’ll pack the bags, and we’ll get down here.”