The Tamaqua Borough Council gave permission to the Schuylkill County Election Bureau to return a polling location to the Tamaqua municipal building.

“As you are aware, we tried to accommodate your request to move the polling site to another location. It did not work as well as we had hoped,” according to a letter from the bureau that was read at Tuesday’s council meeting.

For the May primary election, the third precinct was moved from the municipal building to the East End Fire Company. That’s where the second precinct polling site has been for years.

Many were unaware of the move, and showed up at the municipal building and other polls in the borough, hoping to cast their ballots.

And with the combined precincts, the fire company’s space was cramped.

The election bureau noted that there are limited locations to vote in the third precinct, and that a return to the Tamaqua Hi-Rise, which hosted the poll for years, was not possible.

The request asked for use of the borough building from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. for the Nov. 7 general election.

Councilman Ron Bowman’s motion to approve the request was seconded by Councilwoman Mary Linkevich.

“What choice do we have?” Bowman asked.

“We don’t have much of a choice,” Councilman Ritchie Linkhorst said.

“It really didn’t work,” Linkevich said.

Borough Manager Kevin Steigerwalt said that most of the borough’s office employees have been working from home when elections are held from the municipal building.

The request passed unanimously.

Roadwork

In an unrelated matter, Steigerwalt said that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) project to resurface Routes 209 and 309 in the borough will likely take longer than expected.

“PennDOT is now asking the contractor to take up all the bricks from Broad Street from the railroad tracks out to Federal Street,” he said. “There is concrete underneath so they are taking it all up and putting down base.”

Council President Brian Connely asked whether PennDOT ordered the removal of bricks from other streets.

Steigerwalt said the borough has asked about the bricks underneath Mauch Chunk Street but hasn’t yet heard any answers.

“It was an interesting change,” Steigerwalt said. “It’s progressing but we’re not confident that they’re going to meet their deadline - and neither is PennDOT.”

Council members said they were surprised that despite the change in the scope of the work, that PennDOT didn’t extend the deadline from the end of the month.