Anderson County court approves limited use of emergency operations room for elections work

The Anderson County Commissioners Court voted Wednesday to allow the county election administrator to use the front portion of the county’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for election equipment storage and preparation.

The court’s action, moved by Commissioner Wilbanks and seconded (second not specified in the record), passed after a recessed tour of courthouse annex facilities. The judge and several commissioners described the change as a limited reallocation of existing space so the elections office would have additional room for voting machines and related work without buying an outside building or displacing emergency management staff.

Court members said the vote was prompted by repeated requests from the elections office for additional secure storage and work space during busy election periods. County Judge (name not given) told the court the EOC and adjacent rooms were built to be resilient during disasters and already contain radios, generators, laptops and other equipment; his concern was avoiding disruption of emergency operations. “Everything’s 100% operational,” the county judge said, arguing any change must preserve emergency-management functions.

Commissioner Wilbanks, who proposed the change, said the portion of the annex behind the elections front counter includes power and network connections that would let the election administrator maintain and update equipment on-site and shorten the load/unload route for heavy voting equipment. Wilbanks said the intention was to give the elections office “more space to function” while preserving the EOC’s command capability and continued access to the larger 103B room for large operations or countdowns.

Several commissioners pressed for protections to avoid disrupting daily operations handled by emergency management staff, who testified frequently during the discussion about continuing inspections, tower and radio maintenance, FEMA coordination and other duties housed in the annex. The judge and other officials repeated that core emergency-management functions, including radio consoles and the ability to operate an emergency call center, must remain intact.

The motion as approved directs that the election administrator may occupy the front portion of the emergency command room for election-related work and that emergency-management equipment and workspace remain available in the back portion of the suite. The court did not approve moving other offices or a wholesale reorganization at this time; multiple commissioners said a separate, more detailed plan might follow after consultation with the election administrator and emergency-management staff.

The court recessed earlier in the meeting to inspect the annex facilities before returning and voting. Commissioners said the visual tour persuaded several members that the reallocation could be done with limited disruption, but they also asked staff to return if additional changes would be necessary.

The court did not vote to purchase any external property during the meeting and reiterated that buying a separate building would be a distinct decision requiring full consideration and a separate vote.

The motion passed with commissioners voting in favor; no opposing votes were recorded in the meeting transcript.