2/9/08 - Elections office may go in new DMV site

Commissioners say current space in the County Office Building is cramped

(As published by Cortland Standard, Christine Laubenstein reporting)

Election commissioners urged the county Tuesday to move the Board of Elections office into a planned Department of Motor Vehicles Office on River Street.

As a result, the county’s General Services Committee requested two cost estimates and project timelines for a DMV with and without an elections office.

Engineering firm Barton & Loguidice will complete the work.

County Administrator Scott Schrader estimated the cost without the elections office between $400,000 and $600,000, while the cost with it would be between $600,000 and $900,000.

The cost will be paid out of the county’s $2.8 million share of state settlement funds from tobacco companies.

The new DMV building would be about 4,000 square feet without the Board of Elections office, while having the Board of Elections within it would require about 6,000 square feet, Schrader said.

Once the cost estimates and project timelines are complete, which should be within the next few months, the committee will vote on which option it prefers, committee Chairman Chad Loomis (D-8th ward) said Tuesday afternoon.

The full Legislature will also have to approve the plan.

During Tuesday’s General Services meeting, county Election Commissioners Bill Wood and Bob Howe said they need more space.

Wood said one of the commissioners has a very small office with no air conditioning or heat. Howe said after the meeting that the office referred to was Wood’s.

Howe added that moving the Board of Elections office into the new building would allow an additional room for absentee voters coming in to vote.

Many absentee voters come into the office to fill out a voting form, Howe said, as opposed to filling it out at home and sending it by mail. Those people must go into Wood’s office, Howe said.

We are soliciting a proposal for the work as two separate options from Barton and Loguidice- one for the 4,000 square foot DMV, the second will be a DMV and BOE building. B&L has not been given the work until the proposal is received, reviewed and approved by the Legislature.