Renovations to the Lawrence County Board of Elections first-floor courthouse office will begin at the end of the month, meaning employees will work from a temporary area until the job is finished.

Monday, March 20, 2000

Renovations to the Lawrence County Board of Elections first-floor courthouse office will begin at the end of the month, meaning employees will work from a temporary area until the job is finished.

Last week, courthouse maintenance staff began installing pre-fabricated metal posts and walls for the temporary office.

The office will be located outside in the main lobby area on the courthouse floor, to the right of the staircase as visitors enter the courthouse on the Fourth Street side.

"The office will basically be our half of this lobby from the stairway to the wall our office is next to," board executive director Mary Wipert said.

Employees likely will close out their primary election work, then work from a temporary area, Mrs. Wipert said.

"We don’t know exactly when we’re moving," she said.

The temporary office must be finished and equipment moved first, Mrs. Wipert said.

Some boxes are already packed up, but the most difficult task remains – moving the computer equipment, she added.

Computer technicians should arrive the first week of April to begin the move.

There will be a lot of noise during the renovation, considering how close the temporary office will be to the construction area, Mrs. Wipert said.

"We’ll deal with it," she said. "What are our other choices?"

Still, construction noise will not be constant and the work needs to be done, Mrs. Wipert said.

Officials estimate the work will take three months, with contractors making major repairs to the floor, walls and work spaces.

County commissioners awarded the renovation bid recently to Meade Construction of Ashland, Ky.

The bid came in at $204,703, lower than the $277,000 bid received the first time the project was advertised last year, commissioners said.

Painting and any construction for temporary office space will be handled by county workers. The overall project will basically "gut" the board’s office, Mrs. Wipert said.

Work will fix the current office’s weak floors and improve the look of walls, she said. The walls will no longer have mold on them, she added.

Also, office spaces will be redesigned so that the majority of employees will be near the front of the main room, visible to the public, Mrs. Wipert said. And, work areas can finally be rearranged to improve efficiency, she said.

For example, when employees work on absentee ballots now, work begins at the front of the office but everything else with absentees is located in the very back, Mrs. Wipert said.

Renovations will increase the space up front for such work, she said.

The work remains on schedule, commissioners said.