Facing leaks, water damage, supervisor of elections will get new space for about $8.8M

Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Lisa Lewis said her ceiling leaks often, especially after a big rain, leaving her and her staff to put out tarps to cover critical equipment when bad weather is on the way. But those days will be over soon.

Lewis received approval this month for the county to buy the Gateway Village Shopping Center at the northwest corner of International Speedway Boulevard and North Woodland Boulevard in Deland for new office and warehouse space. Current tenants in the shopping center include Spin City Laundry.

The cost is over $8.8 million with another $2.5 million to prepare and fix some elements of the new building including its roof. In recent years Lewis' office socked away about $6 million to help with the purchase, Volusia County Director of Business Services Jeaniene Jennings said.

Getting new space has been a slow process because of the lack of inventory in DeLand, the county seat, as the law requires, Lewis said.

Lewis moved to the current location at 1750 S. Woodland Blvd. in DeLand., which she leases, in 2020 after telling the county manager in 2016 that she couldn't go through another election in the old courthouse downtown, she said.

The current facility was always a temporary fix until they could find something better. In the meantime, she's had to deal with issues tied to the aging leased space, she said.

A big rain in 2020 caused part of the ceiling to come down and ruined computers and other non-voting equipment. That's happened a couple of other times, she said.

And then there have been the leaks. The office had siphons to collect water and drain it into buckets "all over," she said.

"We have been very lucky that none of it has hit our vote-by-mail equipment or any of our voting equipment or our server that collects all the data for tabulating votes," she said. "It has been in the server room, but it has not been over the server, and if we know rain is coming we have big tarps that we usually cover what we need to in the event that it does come through."

Lewis received rent reductions in response to the issues, she said. The roof was replaced last year, but some leaks have still persisted.

The purchase will bring the warehouse and office together. Now they are over four miles apart. Also, the new facility has spaces the county can rent to bring in income. The new facility will provide 5,635 more square feet, according to the county.

Lewis said her office needs the room to grow along with the county's population.

"With the people, they register to vote and that means polling places and more equipment, and you need a place to house all of that," she said. "I will tell you that I have never begged for more places to host elections than I have this year. It's getting harder and harder to find them."

Lewis said she's cutting costs by bringing as much furniture from the current building to the new site, including computers, cubicles, desks and tables.

"If I can get the double doors that we purchased, I'm going to take those also," she said.

She just had one new request: "I want two new flags for the office when we do move because they just look sharper when they're new."

Building a new office and warehouse would cost about $20.8-$24 million, according to a county estimate.

The County Council unanimously supported the plans to buy the property.

Lewis' office currently leases space for $261,690 a year but the rate increases at 3% a year, Jennings said. The new location has an added benefit. There is an opportunity to rent out space to other tenants. There are seven active leases at the property.

"I like the idea of making money for our residents," District 4 Councilman Troy Kent said. "I like the idea of giving you a permanent home where we have more control of your location. And if there's a problem, we can address it rather expeditiously."

The deal will be closed after a due diligence period.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Supervisor of elections in Volusia County gets OK for $8.8M office