Agenda - 06-03-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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14 1 Commissioner Gordon said no one has asked about the specific needs for more office 2 space, co- location and who needs it. She said this information has not been presented in a 3 way that will help them make any decisions. 4 Jeff Thompson said staff reported in November that there was no demand for more 5 office space in the near future. He said the only exception was the Department on Aging. He 6 said there is more office space overall than demand, which results in underutilized space. He 7 said the only facility that is stressed is the EAC. 8 Commissioner Gordon said the principles say that the use of office space for storage 9 space is bad. She asked what the solution is for this, and she asked if this information can be 10 brought back. 11 Commissioner Price asked if staff would recommend moving walls or reconstructing the 12 inside if the EAC building were kept. 13 Jeff Thompson said the storage space was created when planning and environmental 14 health moved out. He said anything is possible for an interior upfit. 15 Commissioner McKee said he is hearing that it would make more sense to renovate the 16 whole structure to standards rather than to spend less and leave other improvements hanging 17 out there. 18 Clarence Grier said the debt service cost gained would bring the building up to code and 19 give staff the desired building and space. 20 Commissioner McKee said this makes sense. He said past conversations have been a 21 stalking horse to move to the Blackwood Farm facility. He said the conversation continually 22 comes back to this being an underutilized facility, and then this leads to conversations about 23 Blackwood Farm, which is a disconnect for him. 24 Jeff Thompson said Blackwood Farms predated this plan, and his point is if the Board of 25 County Commissioners is going to do this, then funding should not be spent in two places. 26 Commissioner McKee said his point is that the funding for Blackwood Farms was 27 jumped forward last year and then back again. He said there is no definitive plan for why the 28 funding was moved forward. 29 Dave Stancil said when staff went through the CIP discussions last year, the idea that 30 this older building was not worth saving was what drove the idea of the Blackwood Farm facility. 31 Commissioner Dorosin said the Board needs to make a policy decision of whether to 32 keep the EAC with the collocated spaces on this site. He said if this decision is yes, then the 33 question of renovating the building is an easier one to answer; if the answer is no, then the 34 Board can look at other options. He said perhaps underutilized facilities should put back on the 35 tax rolls, or for affordable housing or some other use. He said this policy question needs to be 36 answered soon. 37 Chair Jacobs said the funding jumped because the manager at that time saw the 38 proposed costs to renovate and decided to propose moving to Blackwood Farms. He said the 39 Board did not make that decision and they were working on consolidating facilities. He said he 40 feels this should be part of the CIP discussion. He said there is now a different take on this 41 building, and there are two options. 42 Commissioner Gordon said the EAC site is better suited to stay in Hillsborough in some 43 form or fashion. She said Blackwood Farms was designed by the committee to have a parks 44 operation base. She said the location is decentralized, and she feels the Environmental and 45 Agricultural Center functions should not be put there. 46 Commissioner McKee asked for consensus on moving forward with looking at how to 47 best utilize the existing space at EAC to maintain or rebuild the facility for usage by current 48 occupants. 49 Chair Jacobs said he has not heard anyone object to this, and he feels the Board can 50 take Blackwood Farm off the table; however he feels other sites could be kept on the table.