The wait to find a home for the Duval County Supervisor of Elections Election Center will last at least another month.
A City Council meeting Wednesday ended with three bills each dealing with separate lease agreements being deferred until July.
Mayor Alvin Brown Chief of Staff Chris Hand asked the council to withdraw the bills but council members instead voted to defer which Hand agreed to so the city real estate division could evaluate the deals and make a final recommendation.
Council members have been critical of the administration saying it should have finalized a deal months ago.
Hand says it’s been an unusual process.
He promised to present the council a lease deal at its July 23 meeting.
Council member John Crescimbeni says he’s not happy with the delay. He says the administration had months evaluate the proposed lease agreements.
Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland says the site of the elections warehouse has become too politicized. He says a decision is needed soon before the next election season arrives.
The three locations under consideration are at One Imeson on the Northside, the Southgate Plaza on Beach Boulevard and the current Elections Center location at the Gateway Town center. The Gateway office has been in poor shape in recent years and the rent has been high. It led Holland to ask the city to look for a new location. The new owners of Gateway have promised to make needed repairs and lowered the proposed rent.
When news of Holland's desire to find a new location got out, other landlords proposed their lease agreements. Since then the deals keep changing in what has become an open bidding process. Every time the numbers change they have to be checked out by the Council Auditors office adding to the delays.
Crescimbeni says none of that would have happened if the administration had taken the initiative in the first place. Hand says one difficulty was Gateway's ownership going into bankruptcy last year and being foreclosed upon.
* This story has been modified to correct an error. It previously stated Chris Hand asked the Council for the bill's deferral. He instead asked the bills be withdrawn but the council voted to defer.
