by David Chapman
Staff Writer
A contract renewal for the Supervisor of Election’s Gateway Office caused lengthy discussion at several City Council committees this week, with critics of the legislation seeking a more taxpayer-friendly deal.
The legislation in its original form would approve and authorize an interim lease extension for six months, starting Oct. 1, for more than $51,000 a month, up from $49,000 a month currently, with an option to renew and extend the term on a month-to-month basis for 54 months determined by the City.
The increase in rent is due to an increase in electricity, said Robert Williams, City chief of real estate.
It was discussed both at Monday’s Rules and Recreation and Community Development committees and Tuesday’s Finance Committee.
Williams called the measure a stopgap contract intended to safeguard the office should a better deal become available with the current landlord or with another property.
Council member John Crescimbeni, who sits on both the Rules and Finance committees, questioned why rent is increasing in an economy when renters have more leverage. Given the month-to-month provision, he said during Finance, he didn’t want to see complacency in negotiating a better deal and wanted negotiators to “go out there and get aggressive.”
“Find another location,” he said Tuesday, “or play some hardball.”
Williams, responding Tuesday to the Finance Committee about the contract, said he was “content we’ve done the best we can at this time.”
Council member Richard Clark, also on Rules, questioned Williams about the available vacant City property that could house the office and said he believed more than the 60,000 square feet needed was available.
Clark offered an amendment, which Rules approved, that struck the 54 month-to-month provision. Amended, it passed Rules 6-0.
During Tuesday’s Finance meeting, Williams said the only vacant City building that could potentially house the office would be The Armory, at 851 N. Market St., but not without significant improvements.
Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland said The Armory has been viewed as a possibility for some time, but because of needed storage and overall space, “significant improvements” would first have to happen. He agreed the bill was a needed stopgap deal.
City spokeswoman Kristen Beach agreed that the building needed “substantial retooling,” especially in the basement area that floods. Beach said there is no cost estimate for such a rehabilitation project at the moment.
The Supervisor of Elections has been in the Gateway office since 2006, when it signed a 5-year lease.
The City must have a contract extension or vacate the offices by March 31. If it doesn’t, the rent could double in the current Gateway space due to being a holdover tenant.
Given the time sensitivity such a move could take, Council member Ray Holt amended the ordinance during Finance to have the six-month interim lease and 54 month-to-month provision, with the City Real Estate Department returning to Council by Dec. 1 with an update on contract negotiations and potential relocation sites, including those in City-owned buildings.
Holt’s amendment passed and Finance approved the measure, creating two variations of the bill.
While timing was an issue among Council members on the bill, it is the same for Holland on a different level.
Even if a move was completed into a building that could house the current Gateway office, he said, the move itself at the end of the six-month proposed term or shortly thereafter would affect training and the process heading into the November 2012 presidential election.
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