Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 6:35 pm News Flash Archive

North Greenwood voters may never be able to vote in the fire station and Legion Hut buildings again.

That's what Election Commissioner Deveda Dillon stated late today, after being informed that the fire station has been leased to a private citizen for use as an antique store.

Mayor Carolyn McAdams and the Greenwood City Council voted yesterday to lease the old fire station on Claiborne Ave to Byron Ellen Shaw for use as an antique store. Mayor McAdams assured the council that the use of the building as a voting precinct will not be affected.

However, Election Commissioner Dillon stated that she was never consulted about this proposed lease, and that the main room of the building must be completely empty and available for election day setup several days prior to the election being conducted.

Both Circuit Clerk Trey Evans and Chancery Clerk Sam Abraham each stated that the Mayor never contacted them about this proposed lease arrangement.

Mrs. Shaw, the antique dealer, told The Taxpayers Channel today by phone that she only intends to partition the main room and permit the Election Commission to use a portion of that room to hold its elections. She did not agree that the entire room needed to be made available to the election commission.

However, according to Dillon, the entire room will be required for several days in order to set up and hold elections, and if the antique store owner cannot comply with this requirement, the election commission will be forced to move the entire election precinct to a new location.

The nearest location large enough to accommodate the elections would be the North Greenwood Baptist Church gymnasium building. The Board of Supervisors and the Justice Department must approve the change before it can become effective.

The Legion Hut by itself is not large enough to accommodate the North Greenwood precinct, which has over 3000 registered voters on its pollbooks.

If the lease has not yet been signed, it may yet be possible for the Council to rescind the agreement and preserve the decades-old voting precinct for North Greenwood voters.

John Pittman Hey
The Taxpayers Channel

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