What has happened to the City Council discussion — much less a decision — on the future location of the elections center of the Supervisor of Elections?
This all began some time ago when Supervisor Jerry Holland floated the idea of constructing a new building in LaVilla to consolidate the office's Downtown headquarters and its 50,000 square feet of warehouse space in the Gateway Shopping Center off Norwood Avenue.
The Downtown offices along Monroe Street house Holland and about 30 employees. The Gateway facility has about 15 employees and is where ballots are taken on election night to be counted.
Gateway has been costing taxpayers $51,000 a month in rent, a price most agree is too much.
After Holland made his proposal for a new building, several actions happened.
Council member Clay Yarborough, saying he wanted a cheaper alternative to Gateway, filed legislation last year to build a new elections office.
Mayor Alvin Brown pushed back at paying for constructing any new buildings and said Holland should move into the City-owned Yates Building at 231 E. Forsyth St. in Downtown.
Holland responded that he did not think the Yates Building will work because it lacks the loading docks needed for warehousing and quickly collecting and counting ballots on election night.
Council member Matt Schellenberg then jumped into the waters by proposing the elections center move from Gateway to a former Sears catalog distribution center at One Imeson on Imeson Park Boulevard off North Main Street, where the rent would be much cheaper than Gateway.
That prompted Gateway's owners to say they'd cut their rent from $51,000 a month to less than $25,000.
The last group to enter the discussion is the iconic Demetree family, which has proposed the City lease space in the Southgate Shopping Center off Beach Boulevard.
A side-by-side comparison of the three proposals shows One Imeson has offered a 10-year rental agreement that is $528,000 lower than Gateway and $143,000 lower than Southgate.
The One Imeson proposal also includes up to $100,000 in moving costs.
One Imeson, which was built in 1973 as a warehouse, has proposed spending about $800,000 toward improving the premises, while Gateway, built in 1959 as a retail mall, proposes to spend $450,000 on improvements.
Southgate was constructed in 1957 as a strip mall and has not proposed a dollar amount for improvements. One challenge at Southgate is the lack of a loading dock, which probably will have to be constructed at considerable cost.
One concern about moving from Gateway was the loss of an early-voting facility. With the rent savings, it seems possible to have an office for early voting while still providing Holland with an easily accessible warehouse facility where voters are assured of efficiency and security.
Three Council committees — Rules, Finance and Transportation, Energy and Utilities — had debated the proposals and determined a joint meeting would be held to see if consensus could be developed.
But, it appears nothing has happened and the conversation has grown very quiet.
Why does a Council delay in making a decision matter?
For one, we like efficient, orderly and fair elections.
Having the proper space for an elections office with loading docks where documents can be properly stored and votes quickly counted is part of the process.
Then there's the money being wasted by delaying a decision.
Even if it is determined to keep the elections office at Gateway, taxpayers are paying $25,000 more each month than they would with a new lease agreement.
The clock is ticking.
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