Mayor Alvin Brown's administration is recommending any potential move of the Supervisor of Elections Office should be Downtown into the Yates Building and not to the Sax Property in La Villa, which a report to City Council states could cost up to $10.8 million.
The cost, recommendations and a brief history of the buildings are included in a report issued Wednesday to City Council from the administration.
Council passed a resolution in August directing the administration to conduct a review of a possible consolidation and relocation of the Supervisor of Elections Office functions.
The office has two buildings — its main office Downtown at 105 E. Monroe St. and an elections center at the Gateway Mall at 5200-2 Norwood Ave.
The Downtown office is about 10,000 square feet and the center is about 50,000 square feet, according to the report.
Brown allowed the Council resolution to become law without his signature and responded in a Sept. 11 letter saying he supported the consolidation goal but had "concerns about building a large, new government facility during these challenging times." In that letter, Brown said Holland estimated a construction cost of at least $5 million.
The report said the City Public Works Department estimates a new La Villa facility would cost $10.8 million, but that Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland provided a plan for a $6.8 estimate.
The report also said Holland believes a Request for Proposals could result in a lower price for the project, which includes construction of the building and parking lot.
In addition, the City owns the La Villa property and the sale of the elections main office could defray the cost of a new building, the report said.
The report also said Holland stated a need for at least 65,000 square feet with two loading docks and 150 parking spots, among other features.
Holland also said in the report that a private developer who provided the $6.8 million cost estimate said the La Villa project could take 12-13 months. Public Works said the project would take between 21 months, which includes design and build, and 26 months, which includes design, bid and build.
The report also said consolidation would save an estimated $75,000 annually, according to the elections office.
The report said if the Yates Building were to be used, its current tenants — the Property Appraiser's Office and several City departments — would be relocated.
In its detail of the Yates Building, the report said Holland is willing to examine the building for the office's use but he is concerned about the lack of a sufficient loading dock to accommodate Election Day operations and he said the building does not contain large enough freight elevators for some equipment.
The administration has four recommendations for a potential move:
• It "strongly" recommends the main elections office headquarters remain Downtown with other constitutional offices, which aligns with Brown and Council's Downtown revitalization efforts.
• Due to current City fiscal challenges, it does not recommend an additional $6.8 million to $10.8 million in debt that would be needed to build a new elections office Downtown on property that could have commercial potential.
• It "finds promising" the possibility the City-owned Yates Building could be used to house all or part of the elections operations. It also recommends the administration closely work with the supervisor of elections to determine how the building could accommodate the office and report back by Jan. 21.
• It found if the Yates Building, alone or in conjunction with the current elections main office, could not accommodate elections operations, the City could maintain the existing main office and pursue a new long-term lease with the Gateway Mall or another facility that could save taxpayers and meet elections needs.
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