“Do I Think $3.4 Is Too Much? Absolutely.” Townsend And Vaughan Talk Elections Building

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

Last week, we heard citizens’ concerns about the proposed elections building and covered the basics of the stated need for the building. This week, we’ll hear from Don Townsend (county executive) and Lowanna Vaughan (elections supervisor).

Last week, we noted that the building plans received from the county were difficult to read. In the intervening time, Gidget Knight (records custodian) corrected the problem by providing the drawings via flash drive. The square footage for the building is 12,430.

Many citizens are so opposed to the project that someone started a petition last week on Change.org, and a citizen started an effort to recall Townsend.

Although the petition is titled “Stop construction of new ‘Election Building,’” no construction has begun. In fact, the commission hasn’t selected a proposal or approved the funds for the project. Still, citizens are clearly making their voices heard, and they have another opportunity to do so at the county’s public hearing about the building on Sept. 2 at 5 p.m.

Additionally, for a commissioner to be recalled, several criteria must be met. According to the Association County Commissioners of Georgia’s (ACCG) recall document, “When a county commissioner takes an unpopular stand on an issue or casts an unpopular vote on a matter under consideration by the board of commissioners, that action, BY ITSELF, is not a ground for a recall.”

The Sentinel has not yet received clarifications on the state requirements about elections buildings from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office or from the county, but the county/Vaughan have been working on gathering this information.

The state does not have one document or list of requirements that says we need to build a new building. Rather, it’s the overall requirements in the Official Code of Georgia that must be taken into consideration. (See last week’s article for a few specifics.)

Townsend has said that we are not currently out of compliance with the state’s requirements. However, the county commissioners, Vaughan, and a few citizens who have volunteered with elections have reported that there is a true need for more space if the department is to run efficiently with just one full-time employee. During last week’s millage rate hearings, Bob Woods (South Dade commissioner) spoke at length about this need, and several other commissioners touched on it, indicating that the commission is agreed that there is a need.

As the county has looked for better options to improve efficiency, the state requirements have made things complicated.

Citizens have wondered if the county could use property it already owned before the purchase of the Georgia Avenue property for the building, such as the old North Dade school or the south end of the sports complex, but these are outside of the city limits, and the building will serve as the Trenton precinct.

Vaughan said that for county elections, the Trenton precinct can be outside of the city limits. However, she spoke with Robin Rogers (attorney) who said that for city elections, there must be a precinct inside the city limits.

The Sentinel asked Vaughan how much more space her department needs. She doesn’t have an exact square footage number in mind and hasn’t requested a certain amount from the county. She’s only expressed the need for more space.

Vaughan explained how difficult it is to complete all of the work involved in running elections when space is limited and items are scattered across various locations. As one small example, there isn’t room for things like precinct signs inside the current building, so these are stored elsewhere.

The Sentinel asked what the top thing is that she wants the public to know. She answered simply, “We’re out of space.”

The Sentinel received some answers from Townsend first via email and then sat down with him for an interview.

Here is his overall perspective: “I believe our responsibility is to plan for the future rather than measure ourselves solely against other counties or past approaches. For more than a decade, successive commissions have recognized the need for a dedicated elections facility. I recognize that $3.4 million is too high a figure, and I share the public’s concern regarding cost. However, rather than allow this to deter us, my focus is on working toward a fiscally responsible plan that provides adequate space and security for at least the next 15 years. Failure to address it risks leaving our dedicated elections staff without the resources they require, which could in turn undermine public trust in the process itself.”

To briefly summarize a long history, he wrote, “The County Commission began the idea of a county election office from the time the elections division was initially located inside the Administrative Building, I believe back in 2005. There have been several County Commissioners come and go over the years, but there was not a lot of substantial progress until the tail end of COVID-19 in 2022.

“After a series of challenges in federal and state courts regarding elections laws and procedures, and then even more amendments to those laws by the Georgia General Assembly over a period of eight years and many court cases interpreted by Georgia Superior Courts, Courts of Appeal, Georgia Supreme Court, and the United State Supreme Court Justices, the requirements for additional elections equipment continued to grow.

“Many years ago, when Georgia utilized paper ballots, Dade County had somewhere around 22 voting machines. But now that requirement has expanded to over 54 BMDs (voting machines), 54 printers, 23 poll pads, ten scanner boxes, and a host of tables, etc. to hold all of this equipment. It is my understanding that the State has required an additional 25 machines recently, but we (Dade County) literally have nowhere else to place this additional equipment.”

The Sentinel asked if the proposed building will be used for anything else besides the elections office, storage space, and the Trenton/early voting precinct. He wrote, “Not to my knowledge. I have no plans, nor have I heard of any plans for anything additionally to be located inside the proposed Election Building.”

The Sentinel asked if those who work inside the commission building can avoid the polling area when they happen to be on the ballot themselves. Townsend answered that the extensive early voting process makes this difficult.

He wrote, “Many times over the last 20 years, individuals will come in to discuss matters of political nature well within the 150 foot restricted areas of where the polling place is located.”

During the interview, the Sentinel asked further about why it’s not possible to avoid the polling area, but Townsend said he does avoid it. Even when he is not on the ballot, he takes steps to avoid the front entrance and polling area, keeping the door from his office to the commission room locked.

However, he noted that Angie Galloway (tax commissioner) must go through the main front hallway to get to her office (which is right across from the polling area), making her situation more difficult.

He said that the state was made aware of Dade’s situation many years ago. The Sentinel asked if there have been any lawsuits relating to voters and candidates being in the same building, but Townsend was not aware of any.

The Sentinel asked if the commission has considered expanding the area around the current elections office. Granted, the northeast corner of the building would lose its portico and sidewalk, the ADA ramp/parking would need to be reworked, and this project would still cost money, but could it possibly address the office space part of the problem? Townsend said as far as he knows, the commission has not considered this.

The Sentinel asked why the train depot was deemed unfit after work had begun to turn it into the elections building. Townsend reported that after work had begun, COVID-19 caused a bit of a pause. “In the meantime, you had the Trump/Clinton election. The Democrats were mad after that. After the Trump/Biden election, the Republicans were mad about that. In between, we had the Georgia governor’s election, Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp. There were questions about that.”

As the laws and regulations about elections grew in size and number due to national scrutiny, so did the voting equipment.

The Sentinel asked if the depot’s footprint could be expanded, but Townsend said that the building has major ADA compliance issues. “You’d have to put a ramp in all the way down the inside to be ADA compliant. There was just no way to do it. We talked about putting a lift in and all this other stuff.”

He said that the lot at the south end of the depot has more than a 16-foot change in elevation, meaning extensive and costly work would be required to build there.

Some citizens have suggested renting the city’s civic center, but the many weeks of early voting would heavily decrease the center’s availability to city residents. Townsend said that each year has at least four and up to eight election cycles. With early voting, that’s 20-40 weeks that the civic center would be taken up by county business instead of citizen use.

The Sentinel asked if the commission has considered moving around some other storage within the current building. Townsend said they have made every attempt. “There’s simply no space left. That is why we have elections equipment setting up and down hallways in public view. We have already removed all tables and other noncritical equipment out of the ‘Elections Storage Closet,’ and it is stacked from the floor to the ceiling.”

As for some specific places in the building that the Sentinel asked about, Townsend wrote, “The door to the left of the current closet is a backdoor to the Board of Assessors where all County Property records are stored. The storage you may be referring to downstairs is mechanical rooms whereas the Fire Marshall does not allow for anything to be stored, plus there’s no room in that area either.”

As for using some of the parking lot space behind the administrative building or by the courts facility, Townsend said, “When we were going to build the courts facility, we talked about taking both floors of this building out to the road, pretty much. That came up years ago, but there wasn’t enough space for the courts.”

If the county were to consider this possibility again, Townsend noted that it would remove a lot of parking, and he thinks the cost of even just a one-story building would cause sticker shock.

Even if taxpayers didn’t like the cost, some may be happy to see the government buildings remain in the existing government complex rather than expanding to a new location in the city.

Plus, the county could then sell the Georgia Avenue lot, but Townsend said, “The former commission made the decision. All these things were considered by a former commission, and they’ve been talking about it for years. We’ve already cleared the land and done the site improvements to prepare for the building. All the building plan documents have been paid for. Why would we stray away from that?”

The Sentinel asked if the large hallway outside of the current closet could offer some space and whether or not a sliding door would make the machines more accessible. Townsend wrote, “We have considered that before, but again Fire Marshall regulations do not allow for certain firewalls and fire rated doors to be removed or amended.”

As mentioned earlier, Vaughan doesn’t have a set square footage in mind, and neither does Townsend. He wrote, “It is my opinion that 6,200 square feet would meet the need for the current equipment and with the reconfiguration of space could potentially suffice for the next 15 years through the year 2040 based on U.S. Census growth projections. The current plan calls for 12,400 square feet to be constructed. However, I would support reducing that amount by half.”

He explained that Vaughan and previous commissioners visited other counties’ election facilities and found that Gordon County’s building met all possible needs that we could have. It was bigger than we needed, so Vaughan pared it down.

The Sentinel asked how the plans grew from the original 6,000 square feet (per the Feb. 1, 2024, commission meeting) to over 12,000. Townsend explained that everyone involved in the planning for the building was aware of the tentative 6,000 square feet, but one day, Ted Rumley (former county executive) announced that the building would include a basement, thereby doubling the building size.

Townsend said, “He kept mentioning that this was a future site for a storm shelter…That was an announcement from the chairman, so they took those plans that were 95 percent complete and had to start over.”

Townsend sees benefits to having a basement. “It was going to be considered unfinished space, and that means in the future, it could be used for anything, and if you’re building a building today, it’s always going to be cheaper than building it in the future.” It’s also impossible to go back and add a basement later on, should the county decide it needs more space.

The Sentinel asked if it would be possible to build a one-story building now in such a way that top levels could be added in the future, should there ever be a clear need for them. Townsend said, “That is a possibility, but I’d rather build the basement now if I knew there was another building coming. I don’t have another building or thought of building anything in the future.”

Townsend didn’t have specific plans for the current elections office space should the new building be built, but he listed several possibilities and felt that the county could easily find a use for the space.

The Sentinel asked if he’s heard input from the commissioners. Townsend noted that two of the current commissioners have been involved in the conversation for several years and were part of the unanimous vote to buy the Georgia Avenue property. However, “The price was a shock to all of us. I thought it would be close to $2 million. I had no idea it would be $3 million. What worries me now is tariffs and whatever could happen in the future. We can afford it right now.”

He confirmed that the proposal numbers don’t include a contingency fund, but contingencies are typically ten percent of the entire project.

As for the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax to be used for the building, he said, “Our goal would be to use the current 2020 SPLOST to pay for 100 percent of this building.” He said the county only has $2 million in SPLOST in the bank, and many other projects are ongoing, but monthly SPLOST revenues are averaging around $250,000 a month. “We would have sufficient funding to pay 100 percent of it in cash, no bonding, no need for loans.”

The Sentinel ended with a big picture question: Is Townsend concerned about government growth here in Dade, through the increasing number of government buildings and properties, employees, and regulations?

He answered, “I don’t like the idea of growing government. Government’s big enough as it is. But as people move into your community, do we just wait and become reactive, or are we going to be proactive?”

He cited growth in Chattanooga as an indicator that growth is heading toward Dade—whether we like it or not. “I don’t like the idea of growing government on my watch, but this is something the county has been talking about between 12 and 20 years. The elections office is becoming disheartened by it, and I don’t want to see our elections superintendent and her board become so disheartened that they quit.”

He concluded, “We’ve got to deal with this. I inherited this. I’m not blaming anybody. I’m not looking to the past; I’m looking to the future. Do I think $3.4 is too much? Absolutely. Do we need it? Yes, we need an elections building. Do we need the one that’s being proposed? Maybe not.”