LISBON, Ohio - For the first time, Columbiana County will soon have a dedicated space to preserve its records. 

The county is making progress on its new Archives building in Lisbon, on the corner of East Chestnut and North Jefferson Streets. It has stored its archives across several different locations for years, including the basement of the county jail and the underground Iron Mountain storage facility in Pennsylvania. 

Tim Ginter, a Columbiana County commissioner, said the centralized storage method will keep the documents in better condition — and provide better security for more sensitive material.

“Some of those have to do with situations that really are not for public viewing, although we are a state that is very open and transparent as far as public records are concerned,” Ginter said.

The project's total cost has reached $7.1 million, but the county is not paying for the vast majority of the construction. $4 million in American Rescue Plan funds and $2.9 in state capital budget funds have been allocated to the project, which is slated to wrap up in February 2026. 

That timeline is delayed from the county’s original goals, first due to rain and then issues with the site’s foundation not being solid enough. The county hired Keller North America to install 35 pillars of rebar and cement in the ground, to ensure the building would be safe. 

That work cost an additional $500,000, but “we were able to adjust some of those numbers so that we could stay within that $7.1 million,” Ginter said. 

In addition to hosting records, the building will also be home to the Columbiana County Drug Task Force — giving the law enforcement group twice as much space as their current location allows, according to Detective Jesse Smith. 

“We're so incredibly thankful to have the space that we do now, but we're just kind of running out of room,” said Smith, who leads the task force. “We obviously have a big caseload. Our unit's growing. Just that, coupled with years and years of caseload, equipment, evidence, everything — we need some more room, and we're definitely going to get that here.”

The task force is also waiting to move into the new space before it implements some new technologies, which Smith says could make the investigative process more efficient.

“With having the new building and this being a brand new slate for us, we're able to kind of jump into those things a lot easier and cheaper than it would be at the existing building,” Smith said. “Like criminal records on suspects … If we have information on a suspect, hopefully identifying them, we can do that faster and easier with the new location.”