County Office Building IT Space Secured
After almost two years of storing computer and electronics equipment in a portion of a third-floor conference room in the Geauga County office building on Ravenwood Drive, the county’s Automatic Data Processing department’s information technology operations will soon be moved into formal office space.
After almost two years of storing computer and electronics equipment in a portion of a third-floor conference room in the Geauga County office building on Ravenwood Drive, the county’s Automatic Data Processing department’s information technology operations will soon be moved into formal office space.
The IT department, which had worked out of the Opera House building on Chardon Square, needed a facility that could house its high-tech equipment. But, the buildings on the square are in bad shape, Geauga County Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri said during a commissioners’ work session April 30.
“In the city of Chardon up at the square, you’ve got buildings that are old, dilapidated buildings, that scored Fs, as far as what the rating was from our architect, scored Fs, and we knew we had a problem,” Spidalieri said, adding commissioners listened to elected officials who did not want to move off the square.
“What we’re basically doing is we’re putting Band-Aids continuously on fatal wounds up there and we’re continuing to spend money,” he said.
Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder, who oversees ADP and its IT staff, said plans were discussed to give them room in the building over the past two years, but for some reason, were never implemented. The ADP board had approved plans to move the department’s operations to a space in the building a year ago, he said, but conversations that had taken place regarding other solutions did not result in action.
“Clearly, there (were) conversations over the last two and a half, three years that space was an issue and a variety of different initiatives began, but I don’t know why they never concluded,” he said. “I have no explanation. It was never really relayed to me as to why those initiatives never were fulfilled. Consequently, we just stayed in an idle mode in the location we’re at.”
As a result of the work session, a previous deadline of April 26 for ADP to move out of their corner of the conference room was rescinded.
ADP employees will be allowed to remain in the space until commissioners work with other offices — likely Geauga Public Health — to acquire and modify a suitable space for the department in the county office building.
At their meeting May 7, Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri brought the topic up to GPH Administrator Adam Litke, who was not present at the April 30 meeting. Litke said the question of whether GPH can give some space to ADP will be brought before the board of health at their next meeting May 22.
