Officials Discuss Parking Concerns During Elections
Construction on the Geauga County Courthouse expansion is about 75% complete, said Infinity Construction officials Aug. 19.
Construction on the Geauga County Courthouse expansion is about 75% complete, said Infinity Construction officials Aug. 19.
The three magistrate courtrooms’ millwork and ceilings are nearly done and flooring is the next step, said Brett Bestgen, project manager for Infinity, during the Geauga County Commissioners regular meeting.
The ceilings in the common pleas judges’ courtrooms are about done, he said, adding the next step is for them to install sound-proof wood paneling to the ceilings and walls.
Officials have also constructed a mock-up room on the third floor to show staff what the finished product will look like, Bestgen said.
The courthouse renovation is currently estimated to be complete by Oct. 10, said Jarrett Parker, of engineering consulting company NV5.
Furniture will be installed between Oct. 13 and Nov. 7, and security equipment, such as the metal detector, baggage scanner and rifle rack will be installed between Nov. 10 and Nov. 21, he said.
Staff will move into the expansion between Nov. 24 and Dec. 16, Parker added.
Total cost for the project began at just under $19.7 million, county Finance Director Adrian Gorton said, adding, however, 10 change orders totalling $483,529 brought the total to $20 million.
The change orders ranged in value from just under $8,000 to a little over $54,000 and included one that reduced the project cost by $18,110, said Gorton, whose presentation showed a large number of the change orders covered technological items.
Parker also presented two more change orders to commissioners for approval last Tuesday — a $137,582 one for additional cameras and card readers and a $17,817 one for additional technology backbone cabling.
The Geauga County Sheriff’s Office had requested change order 11 after going through courthouse drawings and determining additional cameras were needed for security purposes, Parker said. Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand confirmed the additions had not been anticipated as the sheriff’s office was not involved in the initial design phase.
The added fiber backbone cabling would create a redundant loop from floor to floor, Parker said.
“If something happens with the second floor, the first can’t talk to the third because the second has broken it,” he said. “So, this creates a redundant loop where it can continuously talk and communicate with one another.”
Change order 12 also includes an upgrade to the cabling running between the courthouse annex and courthouse, Parker added.
Commissioners approved both change orders.
In other business, Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder attended the commissioners meeting to discuss how the county office building’s parking lot is in need of an expansion.
“For almost four years, I, either virtually or in person, or a representative of mine, have attended (Geauga Board of Elections) meetings. And we have invested, as a group, significantly in an attempt to move the mission down the field to have the board of elections join the commissioners in this facility,” he said, referring to the board of elections’ recent move to the new county offices. “It was very clear at the onset of my meetings with the board of elections that they had some significant concerns about parking, especially during gubernatorial and presidential elections.”
Walder noted Commissioner Carolyn Brakey had previously said everything the board of elections was asking for was reasonable.
“(Parking) is definitely my big concern, particularly for next year,” Brakey agreed.
The elections board has been direct and clear with its concerns, Walder said, adding he has suggested to county Maintenance Director Glen Vernick that, during elections, some of the county’s vehicles be relocated across the street where the new Geauga County Job and Family Services youth center is slated to be built.
“I know we suffer from a lot of storage constraints with county vehicles being stored on the premises and that’s prime location, especially during an election cycle,” Walder said. “A remote site would be a very small inconvenience to be able to house those kinds of vehicles and equipment on a temporary basis during those windows of opportunity.”
Brakey was in favor of that idea.
“For me, I don’t think it’s an either or. Either, do we expand the contiguous parking at this building or do we expand the parking at the youth center. I think it’s a take everything on the menu, right? I think we’re going to need all of that parking, particularly for the next presidential cycle,” she said.
Elections board chair Dennis Pavella said the county office building currently has less than 80 public parking spots with the rest being allocated to employee parking.
“That isn’t going to be sufficient during that 30-day period, particularly in the gubernatorial and the presidential,” he said.
One of the recent elections at the old office building saw early voters waiting an hour and 15 minutes in line, he said, noting the county is and has been expanding over time.
