HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 05-26-2005-1ORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: May 26, 2005
Action Agenda
Item No. 1
SUBJECT: Board of Elections Space Needs
DEPARTMENT: Elections/Purchasing PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No
ATTACHMENT(S):
Elections Director Memo
Excerpt from March 2005 Space Needs
Report Update
INFORMATION CONTACT:
Carolyn Thomas, 245-2351
Pam Jones, 245-2652
TELEPHONE NUMBERS:
Hillsborough
Chapel Hill
Durham
Mebane
732-8181
968-4501
688-7331
336-227-2031
PURPO5E: To discuss a request from the Orange County Board of Elections regarding office
and storage space.
BACKGROUND: In April 2005, the Board of Elections requested an opportunity to meet with
the Board of Commissioners regarding significant space constraints that Elections staff and
Board have been experiencing. The State Board of Elections has announced plans to do site
visits to all 100 counties during the next year to examine the suitability of records, equipment,
and storage. The March 2005 update to the Space Needs Report clearly recognized the need
for additional space far Elections, and laid out several mid-to-long-term options to satisfy this
need. However, there is no clearly existing solution in the short-term to address the space
constraints, although staff are certainly willing to explore reasonable opportunities that may
arise or be identified.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact directly associated with this work session
discussion, although the allocation of additional space to Elections in future years will have both
operating and capital impacts yet to be determined.
RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board discuss the space needs
request identified by the Board of Elections and provide appropriate direction to the Manager
and staff.
ORA'~TGE COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS
1 10 EAST KING STREET
POST OFFICE BUX 220
HILLSBOROUGH, NORTH CAORLINA 27278
(919) 245-2350
TO': Members of the County Soard of Commissioners
FROM: Carolyn C. Thornas, Airector of"Board of Elections ~.~
SUBJECT: Space Concerns
The members of the Orange County Board of Elections met on Tuesday, April 5,
2005 for their monthly meeting. On a motion by Mr. William ]might and seconded
by Ms. Billie Cox, the board asked for a meeting with the Commissioners
concerning the current space for the Board of Elections' office.
The board is aware of the space study, but feel that it will be several elections
away before the space study plans wilt be put into place and the office space at this
time is already eery cramped and "over packed". The State Board of Elections will
be conducting a wellness check on each county in the coming year and will need to
inspect all our records, machines and storage and ~+•here they are located. At this
time our department is using several locations throughout the county for storage as
welE as cardboard boxes in place of file cabinets due to the lack of space in our
office.
The members of the board wilt be happy to meet with you at your convenience.
Thank you for your time and support.
Orange County Space Needs Report--2005 Update
Page 22 of 69
Department Name: Board of Elections (BOE)
Project Development Phase: Interim: Tier 1 B or Tier 2A; Long-Term: Tier 3B
Current Location: Court Street Annex,
Current Departmental Square Footage: 1,007
Current # Employees: 4
Proposed Square Footage: 3,055 (plus 30% Circulation factor)
Options to accommodate space
Interim: Two opticns exist far interim space, contingent upon the
development timeline for the new county campus.
o Department will expand within existing space at such time the
Phase I Justice project is completed and EDC is relocated to the
old Hillsborough Savings Bank Building, estimated in 2008; or
o Department will relocate from the Court Street Annex to the GSC at
such time a building suitable for all land related departments is built
at the new county campus. The Court Street Annex would then be
reallocated entirely for court operations.
o The decision regarding which option to pursue may be different
contingent upon decisions made about other projects contained in
this study. Consider the following:
^ If the GSC land departments are tc move to the new campus
in a later phase of development, then the BOE should
expand within the Court Street Annex after EDC has been
relocated.
^ If the proposed Land Services Building is completed in a
' single phase then it may be more practical to relocate BOE
to the GSC and reassign the Court Street Annex to the court
system (Probation and Parole and Juvenile Services occupy
the upper floor of the building currently). This option should
be evaluated further in light of current conditions at the time
of relocation to ensure the program defined for the
departments relocating from GSCA allows sufficient space
for the BOE move.
Long-term: Department would be Iccated with other County administrative
functions to the new county campus.
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