Tuscarawas County breaks ground for $4.9M facility that will house board of elections
NEW PHILADELPHIA ‒ Ground was broken Tuesday for a 17,000-square-foot multipurpose facility that will house the Tuscarawas County Board of Elections and help end the long wait time for early voting during presidential elections.
"The important thing to remember is, it's not about any of us. It's all about the voters in Tuscarawas County, and they certainly deserve to have this new facility," Elections Director Gail Garbrandt said following the ceremony.
"We at the board of elections are very excited because this is going to give us the ability to do our training here. We don't have to do it off site anymore. We'll have all of our voting machines in one place, and they'll be stored properly so that they're going to last longer."
The property is located at 933 E. High Ave. and is next to Penso's Pizza. It was formerly the site of the New Philadelphia National Guard armory. The county bought the land from the Stokey family for $345,000.
More on facility: County to build new board of elections office in New Philadelphia
The lot extends from East High Avenue to Ray Avenue. An alley runs through the middle of the lot and will remain open. The front section will be used for parking. The $4.9 million multipurpose building will front on the alley. The city of New Philadelphia will be developing a park at the back of the lot.
"There was a huge focus on keeping this not institutional looking because it is in a neighborhood," Garbrandt said. "There has been thoughtful consideration by (architect) John Picard and his team on the lighting outside so that it's subdued and not glaring. The park in the back is going to be great. It's going to have playground equipment on it for kids and picnic tables and plenty of parking."
More room in the courthouse
Moving the board of elections from its current home in the basement of the courthouse will free up space for use by the courts for clients and attorneys, jury rooms, courtrooms and offices.
One of the biggest motivating factors in the move was the 2020 presidential election, held in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The room currently set aside for early voting is very small. Because of social distancing requirements in 2020, only two machines could be put in the room.
The presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden drew record numbers of county residents to the polls, with about 6,000 people casting in-person ballots at the courthouse in early voting. On a daily basis, the line stretched around the block, and many people waited three hours to vote.
Funded with federal dollars
The project is being funded with money the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), according to Commissioner Chris Abbuhl. Without the federal money, the county would have had to go to the voters for funding for the project.
"The opportunity was there," he said. "We wanted to have long-term, sustainable projects, and this is one that's been needed for a long time. The courthouse was not designed to have the foot traffic that it has in it for elections. We had the opportunity to be able to do this, and we wanted do projects that would last for decades. So, we thought this was the best way to go."
The facility will have a section separate from the board of elections office that can be utilized to meet future needs, he noted.
Picard said work on the project will begin in a week or two. Fences will be going up and trees on the property will be cut down.
Reach Jon at 330-364-8415 or at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Tuscarawas County breaks ground for new board of elections office
