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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConfidential City Hall OutlineCITY HALL PRESENTATION HISTORY (Bob Livingston) In the late 1990’s staff and the City Council began to evaluate needs at City ? ? Hall. The process initially included each department identifying its needs and ? ? developing a list changes necessary to addres s them. This evaluation process has lasted approximately 5 years. ? ? During that time a number of preliminary designs were considered. ? ? Also, alternatives of moving some operations presently at City Hall to other ? ? locations were discussed and evaluated. The pla n developed is one that staff feels addresses the total concerns in the ? ? most beneficial and cost effective manner. CHALLENGES General (Bob Livingston) Police and Fire changes represent more than 75% of the changes in the ? ? Building. The actual enlarge ment of the building is driven by their needs. I have asked the Police and Fire Chiefs to address their Departments needs individually. There are, however, general needs that affect all City operations. ? ? City Hall presently has an average of 50 employees in the building on ? ? a daily basis. 2/3rds to 3/4ths of this number are Police, Fire, and Dispatch employees. This number can vary + or – 5 employees depending upon the level of Police and Fire Staffing. There are approximately 10 fewer employees in th e building today ? ? than in the 1990’s, when we moved Engineering and Building Inspection to the Peek Service Center. The core of the building is 70 years old. The last major renovation ? ? was completed in 1974. The building is located in the 100 - year flood pla in. The main floor of ? ? the building is only 6 inches above the 100 - year level. The Fire equipment bays had 21 inches of water in them during the May 5, 1995 storm. Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing needs top the list of general ? ? problem areas. Some spec ific issues are: The roof has leaks in several locations. Professional estimates o are that 40% of the deck needs to be removed and rebuilt. At C: \ Doc uments and Settings \ nwilson \ Local Settings \ Temporary Internet 1 Files \ OLK21 \ CITYHALLOUTLINE112603.doc 12 / 5 / 2003 1 : 29 PM various times water has gotten into Police records which are stored in the attic. Mechanical systems are 30 to 70 years old. While some o improvements have been made, new systems would be much more energy efficient and would result in cost savings that would pay for themselves in a reasonable period of time. Replacement of windows with more energy efficient ones o wo uld likewise result in significant energy savings. The emergency generator can only support emergency dispatch o and some additional lighting. Other mechanical systems including air conditioning cannot be operated on emergency power, making parts of the bui lding unusable. Electrical wiring is inadequate and dates back to a time when o there were no computers in the building. A major remodel would allow for an organized plan to connect electronic equipment (phones, computers, radios, etc.). Presently, this eq uipment is located in various small locations throughout the building. The main electrical feeds and panels are located in the Fire o equipment bays. In the 1995 storm, water was near the bottom of the panels threatening electrical service to the entire bui lding including Dispatch. Meeting and training room space is inadequate. It is difficult to ? ? schedule continuing education classes for Police, Fire, and other City personnel in the building. The building, while not in violation of ADA requirements because of ? ? grandfathering, does not meet them. A wheelchair - bound individual cannot access either the Police or Fire administrative offices. There are only 45 off street parking spaces available. Several methods ? ? can be used to calculate the parking need for the building. Staff believes the minimum requirement for the building presently is approximately 83 spaces (50 for employees, 10 for police and other vehicles assigned to the building, and 13 for customers and visitors). The building is difficult to secure af ter hours because of multiple ? ? entrances and lock requirements. Since 9/11, security has become much more of a concern for the building. A centralized, secure location for computer equipment that will allow ? ? adequate room for maintenance is needed. Present ly, this equipment is in four locations that are difficult to secure after hours. Dispatch Needs (Chief Adams) A secure first floor location with 24/7 access for citizens needing ? ? assistance. C: \ Doc uments and Settings \ nwilson \ Local Settings \ Temporary Internet 2 Files \ OLK21 \ CITYHALLOUTLINE112603.doc 12 / 5 / 2003 1 : 29 PM Adequate space for two or more dispatchers to be on duty at the same ? ? time. Provisions for being able to add additional dispatchers in times of ? ? emergency. Equipment for dispatch computers, CAD systems, radios, Direct ? ? Alarm Monitoring and other electronics located so that dispatch personnel can access it without hav ing to leave the dispatch area. A restroom located so that dispatch personnel do not have to leave the ? ? area for a break. Police Needs (Chief Adams) City Hall has caused many issues with the current accreditation ? ? process. While we have been able to resp ond to many of the violations by showing the plans for improvements and new construction, eventually, the condition will jeopardize the Police Department’s ability to meet accreditation standards and therefore its ability to continue in the program. Locati on of patrol offices on the first floor so that officers can easily ? ? access most needs from the parking lot. Creation of a Sally Port to securely transport prisoners directly to and ? ? from the jail without having to go through the building or outside of the j ail area. A secure location, adequate in size, to process DWI violators with ? ? required video surveillance. A private first floor location for officers to meet with citizens rather ? ? than in the hall, as is the current practice. Adequate office space for detec tives. Three officers currently share ? ? one room. This makes it difficult to confidentially talk with individual citizens. Private interview rooms for suspects adjance to the jail. Again, the ? ? same three - person second floor office is all that is available for prisoner interviews. This is not a good situation. Adequate locker facilities for both male and female officers. ? ? Adequate detail room to assemble shift for announcements before ? ? beginning a shift. If we have more than six people in the present room, s omeone has to stand. Evidence check in located on the first floor with provision for officers ? ? to check in evidence at any hour. Presently the evidence room is located in the administrative offices, which must be open for an officer to check in evidence. This is not well suited for a 24/7 operation such as police, nor for secure handling of evidence. A juvenile holding facility that meets current state requirements. ? ? Additional file/storage space. ? ? C: \ Doc uments and Settings \ nwilson \ Local Settings \ Temporary Internet 3 Files \ OLK21 \ CITYHALLOUTLINE112603.doc 12 / 5 / 2003 1 : 29 PM Fire (Chief Ledbetter) Location of operational areas, sle eping rooms, day room, clean room, ? ? training room, medical supply, and other rooms on the first floor adjacent to the equipment bays for quicker and safer responses. An equipment bay large enough to allow all Department vehicles to be ? ? stored inside at one location as well as having room for some additional equipment. This is particularly important as the requirement of 9/11 continue to be placed on cities, as well as the fact that we now operate paramedic engines that carry a full complement of drugs, just like the MICU. A secure, segregated facility for paramedics to safely clean and ? ? otherwise handle equipment and clothing contaminated by biomedical agents. Locker and sleeping rooms adequate to accommodate firefighters of ? ? both sexes. Adequate space to supp ort continuing education classes for paramedics ? ? and firefighters. Additional file and storage space. ? ? ALTERNATIVES EVALUATED (Bob Livingston) During the course of the evaluation process, Council and staff discussed the possibility of moving part of our operations to another location, mainly the Peek Service Center. Eventually, we concluded this was not an effective alternative because of several factors. These included: Fire could not be moved to that location because of the negative effect on ? ? respons e time. Fire could be moved within the City but the cost to acquire adequate ? ? additional land would be great and the present location is very close to the center of the City. Any of these solutions did not solve the flooding problem at City Hall, ? ? particular ly in the Fire Bays. Moving Police to the Peek Service Center would likewise remove that ? ? facility from the City and would not keep the officers centrally located. Moving Finance could be accomplished but if Finance, Human Resources, ? ? and Executive Offices w ere all moved, it would only reduce the number of employees by about 15. Those employees occupy less than 25% of the current and proposed building. Only Dispatch handles more walk - in traffic than Finance (includes ? ? Municipal Court) in City Hall. Moving Fi nance to the Peek Center would C: \ Doc uments and Settings \ nwilson \ Local Settings \ Temporary Internet 4 Files \ OLK21 \ CITYHALLOUTLINE112603.doc 12 / 5 / 2003 1 : 29 PM force a large number of our citizens to have to go to that location for service. Municipal Court could not legally be moved outside of the City limits. ? ? There was some operational efficiency that was gained by moving Public ? ? W orks, Engineering and Building to Peek Center. Efficiencies would be lost in splitting up Finance, Human Resources, and Executive Departments, such as joint switchboard support. An engineer and architect also evaluated the feasibility of decking the curr ent “Friendship Lot” to increase the number of spaces. This was abandoned for the following reasons: Because of the floodplain, depressing the lot was not considered ? ? viable. The small size of the lot meant that a second deck would only yield ? ? approximatel y ---- total spaces. The total cost was believe to be approximately $ ----- or $ --- per ? ? space versus a total $ ---- or $ ---- per space under the depressed parking over the creek eventually proposed. SOLUTION PROPOSED (Leo A Daly) ? ? Review of Plans QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS C: \ Doc uments and Settings \ nwilson \ Local Settings \ Temporary Internet 5 Files \ OLK21 \ CITYHALLOUTLINE112603.doc 12 / 5 / 2003 1 : 29 PM