By Kendall Patterson
Editor
On Monday, July 25, the Chester County Election Commission continued the recessed July 18 Meeting.
The meeting was recessed in order for the commission to have more time to consider if they should or should not move forward with purchasing the former A1 Pools building for the election commission.
By the end of the meeting, the final decision was to wait until they can get an appraisal of the building. No commissioners that were present were against the idea.
As of last week, building owner James O. Maness was going to sell it to the county for $350,000. The county recessed in order to 1) see if they can get the cost reduced and 2) check out the condition the building is in and see if it will accommodate the election commission.
Entering the meeting on July 25, Maness was going to sell it to the county for $325,000 but said that he would sell it to the county for $300,000 if the county decided to purchase the building that evening.
Since the county did not, the cost is back to $350,000 Maness said.
In regards to if the building was or was not a good fit for the election commission, Planner/ architect/ engineer Sammy West of Wold HFR Design said that the building did check off the major points of concern the Tennessee State of Homeland Security has on where the election commission is currently located and how polling equipment is stored.
These checkmarks include:
• It meets the size of 5,000 square feet
• The building being separated from county offices
• There being limited access to outside personnel
• A large space for voting
• A temperature-controlled storage area, a covered loading dock to move the polling equipment
• ADA accessible parking
• And all of the polling equipment being in one space which would allow provide more security measures to be added
On top of the cost to buy the building, it was estimated for the renovations to be priced at $75,000.
West did suggest to the commission though that if they were to purchase the building, some preventative measures of keeping the building in good shape would be beneficial so that it can last for more than 30 years. The building is already 16-17 years old according to West, and he said that those kinds of buildings begin to need preventative measures done around 25 years old.
Though it met the criteria, some commissioners had worries about the building.
Commissioners Todd Lewis and Sandra Highers were worried about the location issue of entering and exiting off of the highway with the building sitting on the west side of Highway 45 across from the Henderson Farmers Market.
With the hope the county could negotiate the price more and end up saving money in the end, Commissioners Carolyn Higgins and Jackie Butler wanted to wait until an appraisal could be done.
Chester County Mayor Barry Hutcherson said that it would take at least three to four weeks before it could be done, so the commission would have to wait until their September meeting to make a final decision on the building.
Administrator of Elections Kathy Vest urged the county not to wait. One reason she urged them to go forth with making the purchase is that the county may end up losing money, because the election commission currently has a grant from the state government of $25,000 that can be used toward security of the building, but it expires at the end of 2022. Additionally, she mentioned how the election commission would like to be moved into the building by the November election.
Commissioner Terry Bell also recommended that a hold was put on purchasing a building for the election commission until a long-term master plan was thought of for the county’s different properties and offices.
Vest then mentioned that it is uncertain if or when the Tennessee Department of Homeland Security would suddenly force them to meet all of the requirements of a secure election commission location.
Vest was asked if there were any other possible locations that have been discussed. She responded saying that the former Brother’s Printing building has been discussed for $300,000 but it would require a lot more work to meet the criteria of the election commission. Additionally there was the old Henderson Home Furnishings building that could be bought for $495,000, but it was not a viable option for the election commission.
By the end of all of the discussion, Commissioner Kevin Faulkner motioned to wait for a reappraisal of the property and Higgins seconded the motion. With all of the commissioners saying “Aye” and none saying “no,” the motion passed.
Before adjourning, Commissioner Diane Jordan told the commission to keep the Chester County Library in mind for possibly receiving some of the ARPA funds.
