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APPROVED 2124/2003 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 10, 2002 5:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met on December 10, 2002 at 5:30 p.m. in the Southern Human Services Center Board Room in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Margaret W. Brown and Commissioners Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordon, Stephen Halkiotis and Barry Jacobs COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill and S. Sean Borhanian COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Gwen Harvey and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker {All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. Carry-over Item from Previous Meetings 1. Justice Facilities Expansion and Other County Space Needs The Board continued its discussion on the County's space needs as cited in the Space Needs Task Force report with a primary focus on justice facilities expansion and issues associated with the proposed Government Services Center expansion. Purchasing and Central Services Director Pam Jones made a PowerPoint presentation. This presentation focused on the justice facilities and the Government Services project. The total build out far justice facilities would be 48,000-54,000 square feet. This is phase one and two of justice facilities. One of the assumptions is that the existing Sheriff's office would be left intact. There will be alternatives far the departments that were previously included in the Government Services Center and Annex expansion. These include the Planning Department, Environmental Health, and ERCD. The last assumption is that the farmer's market space would be part of the justice facility planning. The Board approved a planning process for justice facilities in September 2001. However, due to the State budget crisis, the process has been delayed. The planning committees will be appointed in January 2003 and are as follows: architect and engineer selection, working with the outside of the buildings and the historic district, and design of the inside of the buildings. By June of 2003, the hope is that the architect would be selected far a recommendation to the Board before summer break. By fall of 2004, the design should be completed and the regulatory approvals obtained. Construction could begin in the spring of 2005. There are still a number of questions to be answered before moving forward with the justice facilities. The first question is the size of the addition. The plan is now three phases of 27,000 square feet each. Each one of the phases would include 8,000 square feet of underground secured parking. The second question as a result of the changes is, when the staff decided to keep the Sheriff's office intact, it raises the question of what to do with the existing Sheriff's office. The courthouse will probably only handle two phases before the parking runs out, so this raises a question about haw to maximize the space that is to be built as well as the existing space. The Sheriff needs about 10,000 square feet of the new building. One option is to relocate part of the Sheriff's staff to the courthouse (i.e., Domestic Violence and the Civil Process officers). The last question is what should actually be in the phase one addition. The staff would like the Board to look at the preference of the size of the addition (24,000 or 27,000 square feet). The staff would also like to hear the Board's preference an the Sheriff's Department space. Also, they would like to reconvene the court officials for a revisit of the space and how this can best be used. Also, two County Commissioners need to be appointed to sit an this group. Pam Jones opened the floor for any discussion on the justice facilities.