“We believe it’s going to be a beautiful addition to the village of Lisbon,” county Commissioner Tim Ginter said Thursday.

The county-owned lot bordered by East Chestnut Street to the north, North Nelson Avenue to the west and North Jefferson Street to the east in Lisbon previously housed the county Department of Job and Family Services building, but was vacant for several years after the building was razed.

Now the site will become home to the county’s records — a 24,600-square-foot,  climate-controlled, secure block and brick building with a dry chemical fire suppression system, a freight elevator and office space.

“Everything from the jail and Iron Mountain will come to this building,” Ginter said.

Columbiana County Commissioner Tim Ginter looks over the layout of the various rooms at the Columbiana County Archives Storage Facility, including the room where he’s standing, which will be the new home for the nonprofit Columbiana County Archives and Research Center. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier)

He explained that the county’s records from the various offices are housed in several different locations, including underneath the county jail on County Home Road, Lisbon, the basement of the Board of Elections at the Government Services Building on Dickey Drive, Lisbon, the downtown county courthouse in Lisbon, the county Municipal Court building on Saltwell Road, Lisbon and the Iron Mountain storage facility in Pennsylvania. The Columbiana County Archives and Research Center also houses records. Some limited records are housed by the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus.

According to Ginter, the county will be able to archive most of the records in one location once the new building opens.

“Some of the records have to be kept forever,” he said.

The new building will be closer to the courthouse with sufficient room for further expansion and future records.The records will be more secure and better organized. During a tour of the structure, he said each room will have a separate fire suppression system, that way if something happens, any damage will be kept to a single room.

The front entrance will face East Chestnut Street and have a handful of parking spaces. The back will be gated with parking spaces and the entrance to a garage area that can hold six vehicles on the ground floor.

This large room at the Columbiana County Archives Storage Facility will be used to store records for the Clerk of Courts office, for both Common Pleas Court and Municipal Court, with other county offices having their own space and individual doors. The building is climate-controlled and secure, with each room requiring individual key card access. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier)

Besides the Clerk of Courts for records from Common Pleas Court and Municipal Court, offices with storage space on the main floor will include the commissioners, recorder, treasurer, prosecutor, auditor and the nonprofit Columbiana County Archives and Research Center which will move from its small office on South Market Street to the new building. The main floor will include a digital archives space, copy room, janitor’s closet, restrooms and kitchen/break room. Some offices will share a large room, but with the room split by a metal fence, with a separate entrance for each office.

The lower level will include spaces for the sheriff’s office, health district and a large closed-off secured space for the county Drug Task Force office.

Entry to all spaces will require separate key cards specific for each office.

Previous plans called for installation of a commercial shredder, but Ginter said they realized it would be less expensive to use an outside company for shredding.

Underneath the ground behind the building, an underground storm water chambers system is being installed, comprised of several large pipes surrounded by semi-permeable membranes. All the drains will flow from the building and surrounding property into the underground system. The pipes underground will collect the water and slowly release it into the storm sewer.

Andy Nye of RAM Acoustical Corporation spreads drywall mud inside one of the rooms on the main floor of the Columbiana County Archives Storage Facility. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier)

C. Tucker Cope Design-Build, Inc. of Columbiana is the overall project contractor, with some work being done by subcontractors. The estimated $7.2 million project originally had a price tag of $6.9 million but then there was a large change order required due to an issue with the soil conditions discovered last year that required construction of extra reinforcements underground to support the foundation.

Ginter previously explained that C. Tucker Cope Design-Build contracted with Keller Company, a geotechnical specialist contractor. He said the company specializes in constructing caissons, which provide sublevel reinforcements through rebar cages filled with concrete.

A normal commercial building is built to handle 200 pounds per square foot, but Ginter said in this case, the structure would be built to handle 300 pounds per square foot.

The commissioners committed $4 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds towards the cost of the project and received $2.9 million from the state capital budget toward the cost, with the remaining costs to be covered by the county’s capital improvements fund.

Once the building is finished, the county will hold a ribbon cutting and grand opening, likely sometime in July, according to Ginter.

The Columbiana County Archives Storage Facility continues to take shape as workers from C. Tucker Cope Design-Build, Inc. of Columbiana work on the outside of the two-story structure in Lisbon. Substantial completion of the $7.2 million project is expected June 30, with a grand opening expected sometime in July. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier)