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Commission approves sending election commission relocation plan to full commission after square-footage revision
Summary
The General Operations Committee debated moving the Election Commission’s storage and machine operations into the archives building and voted to send a revised plan — with clarified square footage — to the full commission for consideration.
The General Operations Committee discussed a proposal to relocate substantial Election Commission storage and equipment into the county archives building and voted to forward a revised legislative item to the full commission after staff clarified the square footage involved.
Committee debate centered on whether election equipment and storage requirements justify assigning the archives building’s rear warehouse area to the Election Commission and whether the county maintenance department should instead receive part of the space. Commissioners expressed concern about moving election administrative functions away from the central county campus while also noting the elections office’s current storage constraints.
Commissioner Klein presented measurements of the area the elections office requested and asked that the committee change a draft sheet showing “over 7,000 square feet” to a smaller, accurate figure; discussion concluded with staff agreeing to confirm the correct measurement (committee estimates ranged between roughly 4,900 and 6,500 square feet for the area under consideration). After the measurement clarification, the committee voted to send the proposal — with the corrected square footage — to the legislative committee/ full commission for formal action.
Committee members discussed alternative layouts that would keep administrative election functions in the downtown complex while using the archives building for machine storage only. Several commissioners said they support housing elections supplies where machines can be laid out for testing but opposed shifting core public-facing election services off the main campus. The committee did not authorize an immediate move; rather, it approved forwarding the revised plan for legislative drafting and full-commission consideration.
Staff said they would confirm the precise square footage with county facilities staff and Marshall (facilities) and would update the legislative packet before the item goes to the full commission in late January.
