Minutes 03-11-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Wayne Fenton said there are currently offices being informally used for storage in addition to the conditioned storage. He said more people could be put in that space. Commissioner Gordon said this means that some of the designated department spaces on the design are not occupied. Wayne Fenton said there are some spaces that are not occupied, and there are some that are larger than needed. Commissioner Gordon asked if staff would recommend converting unoccupied offices to conditioned storage. Wayne Fenton said there are a number of options that could be pursued. Jeff Thompson said one of the perspectives of underutilization is matching the building to its highest and best use. He said this building would be suitable for a lower rent rate as a storage unit. Commissioner McKee said he is not arguing against making an investment to make this a more useable space. He said there are many agricultural offices that need to be co-located for their similarity of purposes in the EAC. He said the records need to be accessible to each other. He said the idea was floated of moving these offices to other locations, and his main point is that this facility works best for what it is being used for. He said it is meant to be an agricultural facility and these departments need to stay together. Commissioner Price asked what the difference would be between upfitting this space or building a new facility with the same services. She agrees with Commissioner McKee that the departments should stay together. Jeff Thompson said the existing CIP has the Blackwood Farm, which would be the consolidated facility for these uses. He said this is now in the CIP at $6 million. He said if that was not there and the County had to replicate this facility, it would be about a $3 million project. He said this compares to $1.4 million to keep the current facility in an operational state as a co-located facility. Commissioner Pelissier referred to the chart and said it appears that one option was to put all of these departments into the Government Services Annex. Wayne Fenton said this was discussed in November as an option that could work but was not ideal. Commissioner Pelissier said she understands the need to keep these departments together. She said her idea was to move them to the Government Services Annex and then use the old building for storage for PFAP, since it is more centrally located. She asked if this move would require the departments to share counters. Jeff Thompson said yes. He said using industry standards, the space could be consolidated; however this does not account for individual needs of the departments, which add space. He said these are really four independent departments working individually under one roof. Commissioner McKee said there are not only 4 separate agencies, but there are 3 separate governments in this building. Wayne Fenton said this presentation is just about presenting the options. Chair Jacobs asked about the next steps for this particular facility and when this will come back to the Board. Jeff Thompson said this has been an outline of the options, and there is a $1.4 million need to keep this building going as it stands. He said this can be done, but if there is a choice to move forward with Blackwood Farm, then this old building could be filled with storage. Chair Jacobs said he is just asking where this is being left in the decision making process for the Board. He asked if this will be brought back to a subsequent meeting with options.