Agenda - 05-04-1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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in the Courthouse at 106 E. Margaret Lane included expanded off e4 area for the Clerk of Court and Personnel Department on the ground floor and expanded office area plus a more workable floor plan for the Clerk to the Board of Commissioners, County Manager's office and the Finance Department on the third floor. Originally the plan set out by CHR appeared to be workable and to meet the immediate space needs of the targeted departments. However, since that time information has been brought to our attention that would cause us to seriously reconsider the feasibility of moving the telephone switch from the Human Service Building to the Agriculture Building. As explained in the correspondence from Larry Bell, Engineer for Centel (Attachment B) , the cost of relocating the switch would be approximately $12, 000 with an estimated $3500 additional funds required to re-terminate the FX numbers, OPX and local lines. In addition, the physical site would require the relocation of climate control equipment necessary to assure the proper operation of the ROLM switch. These figures were incorporated into the cost estimates in the space study prepared by CHR. However, increased operating costs were not considered. The operating costs come into play through a mileage charge, which is a standard component of the phone service cost. Essentially, what this means is that any County extension located off premises from the switch site is charged a monthly cost for the line that brings it into the telephone switch. The County currently has almost 400 extensions. Of those 400, approximately half are in the Human Services Building. At $2.43 (the minimum charge) per month extension, Orange County's operating expense ' per g xpense for telephone be increased by almost $6000 phone service per year. While the $12,000 and $3,500 relocation/re-termination costs are one shot deals, the $6,000 annual cost would go on forever. An additional complication of moving Purchasing and Central Services to the Agricultural Building is the delivery set up. We are currently disadvantaged at the Human Services Building because deliveries to the Central Stores facility requires that vendors bring goods into the building down three steps and through several doorways. There is normally additional cost incurred for this type of "difficult" delivery (often 5% of the total order amount) . In an attempt to rectify this situation, CHR was asked to incorporate a loading dock into the Agriculture Building plan. Two problems arise as a result of this: 1. ) the building is in the Historic District and the probability of a loading dock being well received is minimal; 2. ) the building is located in a high traffic area. Many orders for the storeroom are brought via large company trucks or common carrier semi-trailer trucks. The congestion and potential for accidents this scenario presents is yet another reason to reconsider the relocation of this office. In view of these factors it would seem wise to abandon the relocation of Purchasing and Central Services to the Agriculture Building. Since the Agriculture Building is located directly across the street from the old Courthouse, the next logical step was to explore the possibility of moving Court related offices into that facility. The options were somewhat limited though since the Court related offices in Chapel Hill need to remain in Chapel Hill and maintain a close proximity to their clients. The sole exception was the Public Defender who had requested office space in Hillsborough for use two days each week. Since the Planning Department has been moved, the temporary offices set up for them in the basement of the Old Courthouse can now —I