by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
As the Supervisor of Elections considers new locations for storage and administrative offices, the City’s chief operating officer said it’s uncertain how much of the office will remain Downtown.
Alan Mosley told the Council’s Finance Committee Monday that the future of the Supervisor’s office Downtown “is in play.” The Council, mayor’s office and Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland agree that Holland’s office must retain some presence Downtown. At issue is how large a presence that should be.
The question surfaced at the Monday meeting as the Council considered a bill that would allow Holland to lease storage space and administrative offices. The Supervisor’s office had targeted a 50,000 square-foot space on Norwood Avenue, but a larger parcel on the Southside is now also being considered.
The larger parcel would add about an extra 20,000 square feet. That would allow the Supervisor to move some administrative functions out of its Church Street Downtown office. The new building was already designated to house storage facilities for records and new voting equipment, a call center and space for poll worker and clerk training.
Mosley said the larger parcel would cost the City about $7 million for a 10-year lease. The same lease on the Norwood parcel would cost about $5 million.
The availability of the larger parcel led some Council members to question how much of the Supervisor’s office would remain Downtown. Member Pat Lockett-Felder said her constituents on the northeast side of Downtown need the office nearby.
“I would never support moving the Supervisor of Elections office any place other than Downtown,” she said. “I don’t like it and the community doesn’t like it. The Northside needs a place nearby.”
Mosley said the mayor’s office viewed the Supervisor’s office as a core government function that “needed to maintain some semblance” of a Downtown presence.
Following his comments to the Council, Mosley said Holland thought his office needed about 5,000 square feet Downtown. The streamlined office would offer registration and early voting and other essential functions, said Holland.
Mosley said the Ed Ball Building on Hogan Street, a recent City purchase, had plenty of room to accommodate any size Supervisor’s office. The building has 380,000 square feet available, he said. Renovations to the building should be done by September 2007.
“We need to determine whether we would need 20,000 feet in the Ed Ball building or if we would just need a storefront,” said Mosley.
Holland said his office might not need to take up any space in the Ball Building. An office inside the Main Branch Library might be sufficient, he said.
In addition to Lockett-Felder, Council members Elaine Brown and Suzanne Jenkins spoke in favor of the Supervisor’s office keeping a “central presence” Downtown. The Council will discuss the office’s lease deal at a Friday meeting.