MANATEE — Although there have been no official announcements of an upcoming Supervisor of Elections satellite office in Lakewood Ranch, office space for the site was under lease contract months ago. The office has not yet opened to the public.
A lease agreement signed by current Supervisor of Elections James Satcher shows that the rental contract was executed on July 12, 2024, with the rental term beginning on Aug. 5, 2024, and running through July 31, 2026.
The first 12-month rental rate is $2,900 per month with the second 12 months at $3,000 per month. Records show the first month’s rental fee was paid by the SOE’s Office to Gibraltar Properties LLC—the building’s landlord—in August 2024.
Roughly two weeks after the rental agreement commenced, the August primary election was held. Satcher—who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill the vacancy created when former elections supervisor Mike Bennett announced his early retirement—lost his bid to be permanent supervisor to Republican challenger Scott Farrington.
Farrington, who has over two decades of experience running elections in Sarasota and Manatee counties, served under Bennett as Manatee County SOE's Chief of Staff and Deputy Supervisor of Elections. Upon announcing his retirement, Bennett recommended Farrington to the governor as his qualified replacement.
When the decision was put before the voters of Manatee County in August, they elected Farrington as the next permanent SOE giving him nearly 60% of the vote over the governor’s appointee. Given the outcome of the election, it will ultimately be up to Farrington to decide the future of the Lakewood Ranch satellite office secured by Satcher.
The rented space is located at 8470 Enterprise Circle in a three-story professional office building inclusive of a lobby with receptionist. The specific suite leased by the SOE—Suite 108A—is the same office space previously leased by former state Representative Tommy Gregory.
According to the lease agreement, Suite 108A is located on the northwest side of the first floor of the building and includes a private entrance and private patio.
Utilities are charged pro-rata and are shared among all building tenants based on the size of the office space leased.
Public records show that Supervisor Satcher has made four rental payments for the space, from Aug. through Nov.
TBT visited the location on Friday and found the office locked with scant furnishings. The office building and leased space appeared notably more upscale as compared to the SOE’s main office space located on US301 in a strip building shared by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
While Google’s GPS had no trouble directing us to the building’s location, locating the specific office rented by the SOE was a bit more challenging.
There was no signage apparent outside of the building directing visitors to an SOE office and the door to Suite 108A was unlabeled. Peering through the glass doors, TBT was able to confirm the correct office by a brown-grass mat visible through an open interior door that was labeled with the words, “Supervisor of Election” (non-plural).
Above photos were taken of the SOE’s leased office by TBT reporter Dawn Kitterman on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, at approximately 1:00 pm.
Following our visit to the location, TBT reached out to the Manatee Supervisor of Elections Office for any information about when the satellite office was scheduled to open and what services would be offered at the site.
A call to the SOE’s main number yielded little insight when an SOE staffer stated they had no information they could provide.
TBT emailed a request for comment to SOE Supervisor James Satcher and cc-ed Satcher’s Chief of Staff David Ballard.
Ballard responded to our emailed request writing that he “cannot comment on the satellite office” but that he had “referred our request to SOE Satcher’s PIO.”
A couple of hours later, Satcher reached TBT by phone to confirm receipt of our emailed request, adding that he was unable in the immediate time to provide on-the-record comments concerning the LWR office. After confirming our publication deadline, he offered to get back to us before it passed.
TBT also sent a request for comment to incoming supervisor Farrington. Reached by email, TBT asked whether he was aware of the leased location and what his thoughts were on its future use.
Farrington responded, writing, “I recently became aware of a lease for elections office space in Lakewood Ranch and I continue to question the cost-benefit of establishing a satellite office. This issue came up several times during the campaign, and I consistently raised concerns about the need for additional physical locations.”
Satcher’s intention to open satellite offices was raised publicly during a Board of County Commissioners’ meeting when Satcher appeared before Manatee County Commissioners just weeks after receiving the governor’s appointment to request a 26% budget increase for the SOE's Office.
During a presentation on the basis of the request, details provided by Satcher were limited and some commissioners questioned whether approving the increase was appropriate given the lack of detailed information on how the funds would be spent.
Nonetheless, the budget increase was passed by commissioners in a 4-1 vote.
In his emailed comments to TBT, Farrington added that while he was serving alongside former supervisor Bennett the two had discussed any potential benefit in establishing satellite offices. Ultimately, they determined that opening satellite offices was not a cost-effective option based on the ability to perform most voter activities online, coupled with low walk-in traffic and high operational costs.
Ending his email, Farrington added, “I would hope that further activity on this proposed office is paused, as any decisions made now will impact staffing, operations, and funding well beyond the remaining three weeks of the current supervisor’s term.”
Four hours after our publication deadline had passed, SOE Satcher followed up by leaving us a voicemail.
Satcher offered the following statements regarding the LWR satellite office space:
“The county is growing and this office will be a valuable addition to the Supervisor of Elections Office, and for citizens and taxpayers to be able to have access and education,” Satcher said.
“The office is set up for community groups to be able to have meetings there, for school groups to be able to come and tour, and for the SOE to be able to train workers and to do community outreach.”
“Our busiest early-voting locations were close in surrounding this particular office’s location,” Satcher said of the LWR site. “So it would be great to source our election activities as well.”
Satcher added that the location is scheduled to host its first community meeting event next week, with a “soft opening soon to follow.”
Farrington will be sworn into office as Manatee County's next Supervisor of Elections on Jan. 7.
Dawn Kitterman is a staff reporter and investigative journalist for The Bradenton Times covering local government news. She can be reached at dawn.kitterman@thebradentontimes.com.
6 comments on this item
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lib224
Thankfully, this stupidity and corruption will be ended soon.
Sunday, December 15, 2024 Report this
David Daniels
Given that he's collecting a full public-supported paycheck, it would be interesting to know how many hours, if any, Satcher has actually worked since August 20th. Good riddance, welfare king.
Sunday, December 15, 2024 Report this
rjckeuka4
Makes sense that it's been rented for 4 months and is just now having the "first community meeting with a soft opening soon to follow." That's consistent with the way the previous Commission did business!
Sunday, December 15, 2024 Report this
andreart
How long is lease for and what would be the penalty?
Monday, December 16, 2024 Report this
NikkiforPalmetto
What a waste of money.
Wednesday, December 18, 2024 Report this
N_Alice_Newlon
Check out the podcast. Satcher had no answer when Dawn first talked to him and then later came back with the "community event" and soft opening. It seems there is no knowledge at the SOE office of any community event at the location or soft opening.
Friday, December 20, 2024 Report this