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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-08-30 City Hall PACKETAgenda ad hoc City Hall Advisory Committee August 30, 2017 Siskiyou Room, 51 Winburn Way, 1:30 p.m. 1. Call to order 2. Approval of August 30 minutes 3. Review and discussion of draft recommendation 4. Public Input 5. Adjourn Upcoming meetings and agendas • Tuesday, October 3, presentation/report to the City Council Purpose of Committee The purpose of this committee is to: • Identify the best option for improving/replacing City Hall (meets the work space needs through 2031 and provides reasonable degree of seismic safety for employees) • Determine the amount needed for the identified option • Determine whether or not the City should seek voter approval of a General Election Bond (or series of bonds) to fund the identified option and phase 2 of the Police Station • If a GO Bond is recommended which election date is recommended • If a GO Bond is not recommended identify options funding sources • Provide a recommendation to the Council and the committee’s rational for the recommendation by early September DRAFT Memo ______________________________________________________________________________ ____ DATE: August 28, 2017 TO: ad hoc City Hall Advisory Committee FROM: John Karns, interim city administrator RE: Cost of City Hall seismic retrofit and more The cost of a seismic retrofit for City Hall including system upgrades (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, ADA upgrades and modifications, fire suppression) is $6.5 million. This estimate was developed based on the seismic upgrade estimate provided by Miller Engineering, plus additional upgrade estimates developed by Vitus Construction. You can read that report here: http://www.ashland.or.us/Files/2015%20Seismic%20Evaluation.pdf The estimated cost without the system upgrades was estimated at $1.4 million in 2015. Anticipated costs for improvements in 2021 at 5.5% increase per year is closer to $1.9 million. As reported to you in June, Ashland School District staff recommendation to the Board of Directors will be a transfer of the Briscoe School property to the City in exchange for a reduction or waiver of fees related to anticipated ASD construction projects. Even if the ADS Board approves the recommendation, the City cannot calculate the potential loss of revenue from fees related to future ASD construction projects. There will be several steps involved on the part of the City before this proposal can be considered. In addition, the City has not conducted a feasibility study of Briscoe School to determine if the building is suitable for a new City Hall and to determine a professional estimate of the associated costs. At this point, the best estimate the City can provide is based on seismic costs conducted by ASD in 2005 and City staff recalculating that estimate in 2021 dollars. Please refer to Kaylea Kathol’s July 12, 2017 memo regarding Briscoe School costs and her August 10, 2017 memo and statement about Briscoe School on page 2. http://www.ashland.or.us/Files/Memo_Briscoe%20Costs%20Updated%207%2012%2017.pdf http://www.ashland.or.us/Files/08%2016%2017%20Memo%20Tenable%20Options%20%282%29.pdf I understand that if the Committee recommends a new City Hall at a site different from the current location, you are interested in retaining the current building for civic use and therefore want to determine the cost for making it seismically stable. As noted above, the bare minimum for a seismic retrofit is estimated at $1.9 million in 2021. The committee can include this caveat in its recommendation to the City Council. Finally, I understand that some committee members believe that by 2031, city staff will be working remotely and therefore the need for 24,000 square feet is not necessary. I’m not sure how to address this concern except to say that operating procedures for the private sector differ from the public sector and to assume we know how the public sector will operate in 2031 is speculative at best. I encourage the committee to follow the charge given by the City Council and to make a recommendation that meets the space needs in 2031 as identified in the ORW Feasibility Study.