Committee to Make Recommendation on New Election Commission Building

Discussion of a new building for the Election Commission continued at the Hardeman County Building Committee meeting on Thursday, November 16, 2023. In addition to the Committee, several County Commissioners, Election Administrator Amber Moore, and the Election Commission were present to participate in the conversation. Throughout the two-hour meeting, many options were presented and discussed.

The first option, presented by Mike Mitchell, is to remodel the unused portion of the EMS building at 225 Lucy Black Road in Bolivar.

“The reason I think this is a viable choice is it’s going to be done for a third of the price, in a third of the time,” said Mitchell, who estimated the total cost of the project being between $325,000 and $375,000.

A couple of the perks mentioned for this location are the metal building would provide more fire protection than a wood frame building and the building is already set up for a sprinkler system. There is also space to add additional parking options, which were already figured in the cost estimate.

The committee voted unanimously to present remodeling the unused portion of the EMS building as an option to the County Commission.

The next agenda item was to discuss building site options for constructing a new building for the Election Commission.

County Commissioner Bobby Wright stated he was against constructing a new building by the school board building in the fair grounds area. He shared that the Hardeman County Fair moved to the Vildo Road/Old Highway 64 location because it had outgrown the previous spot and had since lost, to other projects, some of the original 27 acres that were intended for the fair grounds.

“In 1995, Hardeman County gave the Hardeman County Board of Education 4.85 acres. Later, the new Highway 64, four-lane was constructed, utilizing and cutting off 3.7 acres of the tract. The County relocated the Health Department to the Fairgrounds. This, along with the Old Highway 64 road frontage ate up three acres. The UT Extension office, Exhibit Hall, Ag pavilion, cattle areas, arena, driveway, and mid-way areas have all been fenced or separated and takes up another 13 acres of that 27 acres.”

Commissioner Wright continued, “You know, Amber, we’re part of the Fair Ground Committee- on our big events all we have is 4.5 acres left of the fair for parking. If we’re going to grow in this community we do not need to put anything that’s going to take up more of our parking . . . If we take out room for another building, we will be looking for another 25 acres in the years to come for a new Fairgrounds.”

Other County owned property that was mentioned for consideration was land by the airport and land by the Hardeman County Adoptable Animals shelter.

Hardeman County Mayor Todd Pulse reminded everyone of the letter from the County’s financial advisor stating that it is not prudent to be borrowing any money because of the pending lawsuits.

“It’s very serious. We’ve gotten several of them [lawsuits] settled. Federal [lawsuit] is different, it’s not insured. You have to write the check, whatever it is. A federal judge can come in and set the tax rate… until that’s paid off,” said Mayor Pulse, who shared that after speaking with members of the community and hearing their concerns, he did not support new construction. “I don’t agree with building a new building.”

It was stated during the meeting, that constructing a new building is estimated to cost between $1.2 and $1.6 million.

During the meeting, Commissioner Brad Grantham commented on the need to compare the numbers on all options.

“As a tax payer, I’m sitting back and looking at this and I would be interested in seeing apples for apples. I’d like to see a bid on this structure being remodeled and I’d like to see a bid on a new building so we can compare,” said Commissioner Grantham. “I’d like to see those numbers . . . so the Commission and the people of Hardeman County know we did due diligence in everything we could to get the best numbers presented to them, not just tunnel vision on one building, but so we can compare apples to apples, a new building compared to a remodel.”

The Building Committee is expected to present its recommendations to the County Commission at the Commission’s meeting on Tuesday, November 21, 2023, at 7 p.m.

“Hopefully, the County Commission can come up with a decision, which direction it makes the most sense to go in,” said Commissioner David Bell, before the meeting adjourned.

The County Commission meeting will be streamed live on the Hatchie Press YouTube and Facebook page.

Read more local news by clicking here.

Stay informed on what’s happening in Hardeman County by subscribing to Hatchie Press e-mail updates.

Do you have community news you’d like to share? E-mail us at news@hatchiepress.com.