SIDNEY – The Shelby County Board of Elections is still operating in the dark.
“The electrical contractors were in the building and they told us they felt the public portion – the south side – of the building could be up and running this week,” said Board of Elections Chairman Chris Gibbs Wednesday morning. “So we didn’t have to move to the courthouse as we had planned.
“We’re open for business at 230 Court St.,” said Gibbs. “They turned on a portion of the lights this morning (Wednesday) and the balance of the front area should be up this (Wednesday) afternoon.”
Gibbs anticipates 100 percent of the public service area lights will be 100 percent by Monday. It could take longer to have 100 percent of all the electric back on for the entire building.
“We will be bringing up our computers and printers one at a time with the help of Engineer Bob Geuy,” said Gibbs. Geuy is the county’s IT administrator.
“All the voting machines and scanners will be brought up and checked,” said Gibbs. “ES&S, the company that sold us the equipment, will be will be going through each one of the machines to make sure they are up and running correctly.
“The last thing we want is to open them in October and find smoke damage in them,” he said.
Gibbs said structurally, the building is safe to be in. The cleaning service came in and cleaned up the building, which included getting the smoke smell out of it.
The problem with the electrical system began when a driver attempted to flee law enforcement officials on June 22. Dante D. Bradford, of Cincinnati, crashed his vehicle into another vehicle at the intersection of Miami Avenue and Court Street.
Bradford’s vehicle struck a utility pole before coming to rest on the front steps of a residence on Court Street. The utility pole caused stress on the power lines and popping and sparking of lines were observed before DP&L arrived on the scene.
The incident caused electrical damage and a small fire in the storage room at the board of elections. Sidney Fire Department responded to the fire, which they thought had been contained.
A few hours later, smoke was seen coming from the roof at the board of elections. Firefighters discovered a working fire in the attic of the one-story building. There was damage to the rafters,internal wiring and computer lines. The voting equipment and E-poll Books were not damaged and were moved to the Shelby County Emergency Management Association building on Fair Road.
Loss to the structure was set at $40,000 and loss to the contents is estimated at $10,000.
