This report is submitted by Mayor Potter and Councilmember Baron.
The Ad Hoc Committee
The Ad Hoc Committee, comprised of Mayor Potter and Councilmember Baron, met several times and completed a site visit to develop our recommended approach on the Project. We met with and received input from the City Administrator, Police Chief, Acting Police Chief, Public Works Director, Community Planning and Building Director, Building Official, and our contracted Project Manager (collectively Project Team).
The Ad Hoc Committee Process
The building, which was constructed in 1968, houses the Police and Public Works Departments. The Police section of the building houses the Department’s public lobby, administrative offices, evidence storage, locker rooms, break room, 911 Emergency Dispatch Center, Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and shooting range, all located on the upper two of three levels at the north end of the combined building. Public Works spaces are located on the third floor, below grade.
At ground level, a set of plaza spaces separate the Police area from the Public Works Administration offices. The ground level of Public Works contains the public reception lobby, administrative staff workstations, and the Director’s and Forester’s offices. The lower level portion of the building contains vehicle bays in the garage, shop spaces, and shared utility systems for the combined building. The Public Works space in the third level below the Police space contains several offices, a break room/conference room, tool rooms, storage, and the 911 server.
Multiple discussions with the Project Team and our tour highlighted the need for public convenience, operational, and maintenance improvements in the Police Department side of the building. Some of these items we saw need to be dealt with immediately, some can be addressed in a more deliberative way, and some improvements could be considered important but are not required to be addressed immediately.
A secondary benefit of the tour was to show the interconnectedness of the two sections of the building’s critical components. For example, roof leaks on the police side of the building result in water moving through the building and surfacing on the walls containing the electrical panels for the whole building that are in the Public Works garage. Similarly, the building’s electrical switchgear and emergency power supply, boiler, heating-ventilating and plumbing systems are also interconnected. The tour also demonstrated the reality that even though our initial focus was on the Police side of the building, we will also need to do a considerable amount of work on the Public Works side of the building. Finally, the tour gave us the opportunity to see the need to improve the quality of the employee workspaces. These improvements will increase employee workspace efficiency, job satisfaction, retention, and recruitment.
Ad Hoc Committee Strategy
Our recommended strategy is to direct staff to move forward with an RFP from Architecture firms with a strong practice in Police Department Design and Rehabilitation. The selected architectural firm will:
- Complete an analysis of the building complex that will identify repairs and improvements and associated cost estimates that are required for the building to be safe,
- Identify those repairs/ improvements that are specifically required for the police function’s current occupancy,
- Identify building improvements and associated costs that are required to meet the Police Officer Standards and Training (POST)/International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) standards of operation,
- Identify the work and cost estimates necessary to meet required code upgrades generated by other work in the building as well as any desirable code upgrades,
- Provide an estimate of the useful life of the building for Police Department operations with the above improvements, and
- Develop a plan and cost estimate for the minimum temporary facility/operations space requirements to allow the Police Department to vacate their portion of the building during construction.
The bottom line is that the Ad Hoc Committee believes that it is essential that we develop an immediate strategy to address any code, safety, and POST/IACP operational issues of the Police and common utility sections of the building.
Examples of potential Police building operational requirements and improvements follow:
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- Provide an improved separate ventilation system for the evidence storage room
- Provide ventilated evidence packaging area
- Provide an appropriately equipped witness/victim Interview room
- Improve the physical security of building interior and exterior
- Provide additional lighting and security in the vehicle area
- Improve locker rooms to provide space for lockers and equipment storage with needed utilities and ventilation
- Improve handicap access to the Police Department Lobby and handicap accessible restroom
- Evaluate the current EOC space and communication needs
The Police and Public Works sections of the building share multiple building maintenance issues that should be addressed. Examples of these maintenance needs follow:
- The roof membrane should be inspected throughout the entire building.
- Crawl spaces/interstitial spaces between floors should be inspected for standing water and other hazards.
- Damp areas should be checked for mold.
- Important building components should be inspected for reliability.
Ad Hoc Committee Recommendation
In summary, to move on this expeditiously, the Ad Hoc committee recommends that the staff immediately issue an RFP from Architectural firms that have a specialty practice in Public Safety design to develop a feasibility analysis, concept design and cost estimate for addressing the current building maintenance and operational shortfalls. Once an architectural firm is selected, staff will come back to Council with a recommended scope of services and fees under a new Professional Services Agreement for City Council approval through a thorough public process.
Once the architectural team’s initial work is completed, we can identify the extent of any essential safety, operational, and maintenance issues, along with updated cost estimates. With this information, we will then be able to proceed with City Council decision making regarding the desired scope of the design and the construction costs. This time-sensitive work would be separate from any potential work efforts that may be desired for the follow-on, project planning and financing process for a new facility; however, the recommended analysis will provide the factual data needed to assist Council in deciding whether to initiate the process for such a long-term, major investment.
The above recommendations, if adopted and executed, will provide important information to the community and the workforce and essential information for informed decision making by the Council.