County: Auditor Coker requests new vote tabulator

Whitman County Auditor Eunice Coker on Monday requested funding for a new election tabulator.

Coker said it would cost $250,000 for two new tabulators to replace the two older tabulators now used by the elections office.

After negotiations with the vendor, Coker said the price for one new machine was quoted at $102,652 with a trade-in allowance, two printers, training and shipping and handling.

The vendor offered a payment plan for two years with no interest if the county bought two tabulators.

Coker told the commissioners that the elections department has $26,000 in reserves.

The commissioners Monday also discussed at length about financing one tabulator and the consensus was they weren’t sure how the county would finance it. They will discuss Coker’s request at the June 17 meeting.

Commission chairman Michael Largent discussed adding a commissioner workshop every Tuesday. He said he has a long list of items he wants to discuss but has not had the time for all the commissioners to get together.

The workshop would not have a set time on Tuesday nor would the topics of discussion be available before the workshop, so the public could not be notified about topics.

The first workshop is set for Tuesday, June 18, at 10 a.m. and the following workshop for June 25 at 8 a.m.

Commissioners also approved a pilot project for the Performance Management Assessment Group. The county’s payroll department will be studied and suggestions about how the department could be more efficient will be discussed.

“This is a method of self-evaluation,” Largent said. “The intent is to involve people. The primary purpose is a process of examination.”

After the study, a report will be given to all elected officials.

“Hopefully this will establish some methodology to see how quickly we can accomplish change,” Largent said. “We want people to get excited about change.”

Also on Monday, county Public Works Director Mark Storey reported work on the Airport Road is progressing and he hopes the contractor gets the correct kind of rock by the end of the week.

He said he’s still looking at late July or the first of August for all the roadwork to be complete.

“We want it to be done before the WSU students come back,” he said.