Daytona Beach, FL – The Volusia County Property Appraiser shuts his Daytona Beach location after he says one of his employees was “accosted” by one of the large group of homeless people camped outside of the county’s Administration Building.
In a press release posted Friday on the front page of the Property Appraiser website (click here), Morgan B. Gilreath Jr. says he’s not going to tolerate having his employees or members of the public going to 250 North Beach Street and putting up with an environment of “fear” on a daily basis.
“All of my Daytona Beach employees will be reporting to work Monday either in DeLand or in New Smyrna Beach and our work schedules will continue,” Gilreath added. “We will be available to our citizens at 3 of our 4 locations through personal visits, phone and/or Internet contact.”
The large homeless camp that’s been in front of that county building for the last 2 months or so is the latest flash point in the ongoing struggle between the county and the city of Daytona Beach over how to deal with the area’s homeless people.
County employees and Beach Street merchants have been complaining publicly about the homeless since the camp sprung up, saying that they’re harassing people and causing an uptick in crime.
Gilreath says he made his decision after one of his female employees got scared when one of the homeless – a man he says was around 6 feet tall – approached her in a threatening way Friday morning as she was trying to fish her identification card out of her purse so she could enter the building.
“She thought that he was coming to grab her pocketbook,” Gilreath added. “I don’t know what his intent was. I don’t care what his intent was. She told me that she was fearful and she felt intimidated.”
Another employee coming in to work saw what was going on and helped the woman enter the building before the man got close enough to do anything physical, per Gilreath.
“Now that we are dealing with it, other employees are saying ‘Thank you very much’ and the word ‘fear’ is being used,” Gilreath stated. “I’m hearing that other people in the building are feeling the same kind of thing but I’m not sure that they feel free to express what’s going on.”
Gilreath also noted that several members of the public who’ve come to his office for business matters have also complained about being scared of the homeless gathered in front of the building.
“I know this problem is a difficult one for both the City of Daytona Beach and the County of Volusia and I wish them well in their efforts to solve these problems,” Gilreath wrote. “However, the physical and psychological safety of my people is foremost and this action is being taken immediately to make sure that both aspects are covered for them.”
In his release, Gilreath stated that he “deeply” regrets having to do this but he’s not going to re-open his Daytona location until something is done to make sure all the employees and people who go to that building are safe.
Copyright 2016 Southern Stone Communications.