Plan to build new SOE office is withdrawn

The only decision resulting from a special council meeting Wednesday was that building a new Supervisor of Elections office is out of the question.

Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland tells WOKV he’s disappointed that a bill to build a consolidated facility on city owned property in LaVilla was withdrawn.

"Without a doubt, that would've been the best deal," Holland says.

A new building would've meant that Holland would have one, central office.  At the moment, he runs an office downtown and at Gateway Plaza on the northside.  He says that building would have not just been efficient, but provided long-term cost savings.  Additionally, he says there were already prospective buyers for the SOE headquarters, so it could have been a profitable decision.

"It would've been a feasable use of the city-owned property," he says.

But he says the bottom line is that taxpayers need to get the best deal, so he plans to meet with auditors on Monday to determine which of three lease options for the Gateway center now on the table present the most savings. He says that will be a key deciding factor in determining his preference, but if two are comparable in savings, he will factor in things like available parking.

"The moving costs...all of the construction costs. So we factor all of that in so we don't make a move that, in a sense, costs us more than if we stayed [at our current location]," Holland says.  So we really want to evaluate it and make the right decision."

Whichever lease deal is ultimately chosen, it will amount to big savings.

"That's the best thing," he says.  "Regardless of where we go, we start saving money as taxpayers...Whether it's good, better or best scenario, even the 'good' decision will still save taxpayers' money."

Holland says the options are, in some cases, half of what is being paid now for the Gateway facility- and that includes the new Gateway offer.