Voting site an issue

Jay County Commissioners are still searching for an adequate location to host the Jefferson Township polling place and are now considering the offices of the Jay County Solid Waste District.
Jay County Clerk Ellen Coats approached the commissioners to inform them that the latest potential site, Paradise Pointe RV Resort, won’t be available since the grounds will be closed and the main building is filled with items that are stored over the winter.
The commissioners have been looking for a new polling site ever since they received complaints that poll workers abused the former polling place at the Jay County Boy Scout facility.
The commissioners originally planned to move the precinct to the Jay Community Center in Portland until they received pleas from Jefferson Township residents to try to keep it in the township.
The commissioners had also considered using the Jay County Conservation Club, the township’s former polling site, but the club has accessibility issues.
Other locations have been eliminated because they are not handicapped accessible — including paved parking and access ramps.
While trying to brainstorm a solution, commissioner Milo Miller Jr. suggested the solid waste district office, located at the corner of Ind. 67 and county road 400 South.
“Use it inside, inside the house,” he said. “They could set up three booths in there.”
“It’s only a mile from where they used to vote,” Coats said.
The office building and former home, which is rented by the district and owned by Jay County Landfill operator Waste Management of Indiana, has an access ramp but does not have paved parking spaces.
Miller suggested, however, that the county may be able to grant the solid waste district — on which all of the commissioners sit on the board — the money to pave a parking area outside the office that would meet state statutes.
“It has to at least be big enough for two cars,” Coats said.
“Next question,” Miller said, “Where are we going to get the money for the paving?”
With the waste district facing financial issues over the past year, it’s not likely that that board would be able to pick up the cost. Miller suggested that the county could dedicate infrastructure funds for the paving.
“You’re not talking that much (paving),” Parr said.
The commissioners told highway superintendent Ken Wellman to check with Coats to get the minimum sized needed, survey the property and get an estimate from Lica Construction, Berne, to do the paving.
The county’s infrastructure fund is generated from a host fee paid by the landfill.
Coats said she must have a polling place set in the next couple weeks before sending out mailers.
“Let’s go for that,” Miller said. “Get an estimate,” he told Wellman.
In other business Monday, the commissioners:
•Approved a utility easement for Frontier to bury a cable in county road right-of-way at 5196 South 600 West, Redkey.[[In-content Ad]]