Hillsboro Auditor's Office will not be relocated

Proposed changes in the location of the offices of the Hillsboro mayor and auditor will not be going forward, as it has been determined such a move would be "cost prohibitive." 

Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis said that it had been proposed he and his staff of three move their offices to the Hillsboro fire station, located on North East Street. They are currently located in the Hillsboro City Building on North High Street, along with the mayor's office, utilities office and the tax office.

Lewis said his office will remain where it is.

"There had been discussion, but we will not be moving," Lewis told The Highland County Press on Thursday. "I had looked at the facility where it had been suggested we would move - which would have been the fire department facility - and drawn a diagram to see what modifications we could need to accommodate the offices." 

The office space that had been proposed for Lewis is the "training room" at the fire station, which had previously been the chambers of the Hillsboro City Council. Beginning in February, Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings relocated the council meetings back to the Hillsboro Municipal Courtroom in the Highland County Justice Center. 

The Hillsboro Law Director, Fred Beery, said that Lewis had requested a legal opinion on who has the authority to decide how the offices are situated, but that Lewis has withdrawn the request. 

Lewis said that he and Hillsboro City Council President Lee Koogler had a discussion on the matter Wednesday and that the move for the auditor's office would not be going forward. 

"It does appear that we will be staying in this office," Lewis said. "After Mr. Koogler and I met, I withdrew my request from Mr. Beery." 

Koogler said he has spoken with the involved parties, and they are agreeable to making the current spaces work.

"I understand that both the mayor and the auditor felt that they needed functional office space," Koogler said. "I spoke to them in regards to that. I spoke with them in regards to there being other issues pressing in the city, such as paving the streets and painting the uptown crosswalks and other various things. The mayor has communicated to me that he has a plan in place to address those things."

Koogler said that if space continues to be a problem, that will be something the city will look into, but other matters will take precedence. 

"I thought we had some more pressing issues," Koogler said. "If the office space is an issue, as a city, we can continue to look at grants, and maybe there's a way we can better utilize our existing city building. My understanding is that we are just going to hold and see. As time develops for the city, in terms of finances, we will see what options lie in the future. But nothing immediate." 

Beery said that Lewis' original request was not something that is completely spelled out in the Ohio Revised Code or Hillsboro City ordinances. 

"It's not an easy question," Beery said. "I think the Legislature intended the executive branch offices to get together and make the best use of the available spaces. And it seems like that is what they have done." 

Beery said that the city's ordinances address it somewhat in the laying out of the responsibilities of the safety and service director. 

"The city ordinance weighs in some, with the things the safety and service director is responsible for, and by extension, the mayor's office," Beery said. "The statute spells out the safety and service director maintains all the public buildings. It's not something, at first glance, people would be able to say either way." 

Giroux said that moving offices was something he and Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings had considered, but for now they will remain in their current space. 

"As far as relocating the auditor's office, that kind of space is needed for a flow office, so (Hastings) has the elbow room to function as he needs to," Giroux said. "We determined that the move would be cost prohibitive, and there are better places to put the funding. So we decided not to proceed with that." 

The offices may get some internal switching though, according to Giroux. 

"There is still going to be some movement in office, but a kind of relocation of the spaces we are currently in, so it won't impact any full-time people," Giroux said.