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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-17-2001sp AUBURN CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING PUBLIC SAFETY FACILITIES STUDY MAY 17, 2001 Minutes I. INTRODUCTION Mayor Charles Booth called the special meeting of the Auburn City Council to order at 4:40 PM in the Council Work Area located in the Mayors Office on the first floor of Auburn City Hall, 25 West Main Street, Auburn, WA, 98001. Mayor Booth and the following Councilmembers were present: Rich Wagner, Trish Borden, Fred Poe, Sue Singer, Pete Lewis and Stacey Brothers. Councilmember Jeanne Barber arrived at 4:55 PM. Staff members present included: Planning and Community Development Director Paul Krauss, Principal Planner David Osaki, Assistant Fire Chief Russ Vandver, Police Chief Jim Kelly, Jail Manager David O'Dea, Commander Willard Lathrep, Acting Finance Director Shelley Coleman, and City Clerk Danielle Daskam. Members of the press in attendance included Mike Archbold of the South County Joumal and Robert Whale of the Aubum Reporter. Mayor Booth and Planning and Community Development Director Paul Krauss explained that the purpose of the meeting is to bring the Council up to date on the work of the City's consultant (DLR Group with Michael Hildt & Associates) which facilitated a .study for a public safety building. Mr. Krauss introduced the consultants, Michael Hildt of Michael Hildt & Associates and Bill Buursma and Mel Blackstone of DLR Group. II. PRESENTATION A. Purpose and Overview. Mr. Hildt presented the Council with copies of the slide presentation. The purpose of the meeting is to bring the entire Council up to date on the progress of the study, identify issues, and begin the process of receiving Council direction on the size of the project and its financing. The public safety facilities project consists of a 90,000 square foot public safety building consisting of a 196-bed municipal jail, a 23,000 square foot police department, an emergency operations center (shared with a training room), fire administration, shared support and vehicle sallyyard. The project includes retrofitting the existing municipal court/police building Special City Council Meeting Minutes May 17, 2001 Page 2 to accommodate the court, city prosecutor, and probation office. Across the street from the proposed public safety building (where Mel's Lumber exists), a parking structure is proposed which would accommodate 340 parking stalls and an indoor firing range. Mr. Hildt briefly reviewed the five phases of the study. The first is the planning base comprised of meetings with departments, space standards, target population, jail bed projection, a preliminary architectural program, and Committee direction. The next phase, the architectural program, consists of space needs, adjacencies, space sharing, cost-benefit analysis, and Committee direction. The third phase is the siting alternatives phase including development of viable alternatives, performance of comparative analysis, and Committee direction. The fourth phase is the financial alternatives phase including development of viable alternatives and comparative analysis. The final phase consists of the final report. B. Major Committee Directions The Public Safety Facilities Planning Committee comprised of Mayor Booth, Councilmembers Poe and Wagner, and key staff members provided the consultant with direction throughout the process. Some of the major Committee directions included: 1. Changing the planning horizon from 2015 to 2010 2. Adopting lower population projections 3. Plan with King County average incarceration rate of 1.7 per 1,000 for future population growth rather than Auburn's recent incarceration rate of 2.5 per 1,000 4. Limit future staffing projections to current staff to population ratios 5. Locate police evidence and property room with the Police Department 6. Locate police workout room in public safety building 7. Locate fire administration and city prosecutor in public safety building 8. Locate firing range in the project rather than retaining current outdoor range 9. Do not include fire station in the project 10. Design the jail for future expansion 11. Develop a public safety building on the existing police/court site 12. Preserve the "tavern block" site for future commercial use 13. Develop parking garage on Mel's Lumber site 14. Remodel existing police/court building for courts and court-related functions Special City Council Meeting Minutes May 17, 2001 Page 3 15. Re-use existing office furnishings wherever possible C. Parking Garage Mr. Mel Blackstone presented information on the proposed parking garage. The parking garage is intended to provide parking to meet the current parking deficiency (100), additional spaces to accommodate growth to the year 2010 (125) and spaces for those displaced by the new public safety building (145) for a total of 370 parking spaces. Pedestrian stairways and elevators would be located at the corners of the structure. The first floor of the parking garage would include secured parking for police. D. Jail Bed and Staff Projections Mr. Hildt reviewed the historic and projected jail population for the years 1996 through 2015. Mr. Hildt focused on the planning horizon of the year 2010 where the average daily population is projected at 146. The average peak population is projected at 174. Using a vacancy classification adjustment of 1.13, the actual projected capacity is 196 jail beds. In response to questions from Council, Jail Manager O'Dea reported that the City currently has 140 inmates; 48 are housed in the City's jail and the remaining inmates are incarcerated in other jails. Mr. Hildt reviewed the proposed staffing schedule for the jail. The current ratio will go from one staff member per four inmates to one staff member per five inmates because of the efficiencies of the facility. E. Site Layout/Urban Design Mr. Buursma presented a site layout identified as Option "B" 'which includes a parking garage with firing range on the Mel's Lumber site. The parking garage would be designed with a ramp in the middle with two-way traffic. The court facility would be integrated into the public safety complex. The facility would include a public space and a lobby to serve the courts, fire, and the police department. The ground level includes the courts, police front office and administrative, jail support, and a sallyport and a contained area for moving offenders. The second floor of the public safety building would include the police department. The third floor of the building includes the jail. The jail portion is designed with double stacked housing pods each with its own security container and an indirect staff position. The layout enables reduced staff during the swing and graveyard shifts. Some of the pods Special City Council Meeting Minutes May 17, 2001 Page 4 would be dormitory style while others would be single cells. Some pods would be used for higher security inmates. The third floor also includes an inmate recreation court and jail support and administration areas. Skylights would be utilized for the day rooms and housing pods rather than windows. The cells would receive borrowed light, which is an accepted practice according to the national standards. Site layout identified as Option "C" rearranges the vehicular sallyport to access both the police area and the jail. The layout also allows additional police parking on the public safety facility site. The parking garage would remain unchanged. The second and third floors of the public safety building remain the same as Option B. There is additional area over the sallyport for future expansion of the jail. F. Project Cost Estimate Mr. Blackstone presented information on the construction of the public safety building and the parking garage. The estimated construction costs were obtained from an independent cost estimator who developed the costs based on drawings and program information. The structures will be constructed using pilings rather than conventional footings based on geotechnical analysis. Because the facilities will be constructed in the downtown area and due to the size of the facilities and multi-story construction, there are additional costs associated with elevators and exit stairs. The public safety building construction costs are approximately $15 million. The retro~tting of the existing court/police building is estimated to be $1.7 million. The existing court/police building will remain operational during the construction 'phase, which also increases the cost of construction. Mr. Blackstone explained that construction costs are only part of the project. On a public project, it can be assumed that soft costs will range from 35% to 60% of the construction costs. Site acquisition costs for the public safety building alone is estimated at $518,000. Financing costs are estimated at 1-1/2% of the project costs. Environmental costs are estimated at $40,000 for removal of underground storage tanks. Architectural and engineering costs are based on the state fee schedule and are calculated at $1,356,000. Loose furnishings are estimated at $650,000. Sales tax is calculated at $1,485,000. Project costs include a two-year inflation factor of 3.5% per year and an owner's contingency of 10% of the total. Other project costs relate to surveying and soils engineering, advertisement, printing and reimbursable expenses, permit Special City Council Meeting Minutes May 17, 2001 Page 5 costs, construction testing, clerk of the works, and cost estimates. The total project cost for the public safety building is estimated at $25 million. Mr. Blackstone presented projects costs associated with the parking garage and firing range. The indoor firing range project costs are estimated at $850,000. Site acquisition for the parking structure is estimated at $850,000. Financing costs are estimated at $109,946 and architectural and engineering costs are $358,000. Environmental costs are estimated to be $75,000. Construction costs are estimated at $4,362,618 plus sales tax, a two year inflation factor and owner's contingency. Other project costs relate to surveying and soils engineering, advertisement, printing and reimbursable expenses, permit costs, construction testing, clerk of the works, cost estimates, and loose furnishings. The total project cost for the parking garage is estimated at $7.5 million. G. Financing Alternatives Mr. Hildt provided alternative analysis and financing alternatives for the Council's information. He projected that by the year 2010 the City would realize a savings of approximately $1 million by constructing a new jail compared to doing nothing. A savings of approximately $16 million would be realized over the full life cycle of the facility. Financing alternatives include bond issues, lease-purchase agreements, and a certificate of participation (COP). Proposed bond issues could be either non-voted or voted. Non-voted bond issues include limited general obligation bonds and councilmanic bonds. Voted bond issues include several different scenarios including 30 and 20 year level debt service, a 9-year levy lid lift, and a 20 year level tax rate. The City currently has approximately $50 million in non-voted debt capacity and $87 million for voted bonds. A 30-year level debt service bond issue would cost the taxpayer $0.56 per $1,000 and would decline over time because of an increasing total assessed tax base. A 20-year level tax rate would cost the taxpayer $0.57 per $1,000. Mr. Hildt presented a table containing a tax impact analysis of the gross property increase for the bonds, assuming a $32.3 million bond issue for a 30-year level debt service at an interest rate of 5.75%. The table included an analysis of the next tax increase by income tax bracket after the income tax deduction. For example, the gross property tax increase on a $150,000 property would be $83.37; assuming SpeciaiCity Council Meeting Minutes May 17,2001 Page 6 a 28% ~deralincometax bmcketthe net pmpertytaxincrease would be $60.02. Mr. Hildt briefly explained the workings of a lease-purchase agreement and its advantages and disadvantages. A lease-purchase agreement does not require voter approval, the investor assumes construction risks, and the City has less project administration and management costs. Some of the disadvantages of a lease-purchase arrangement include burdensome lease payments that may require an increase in property taxes or bonds and it still counts as debt. Mr. Hildt briefly discussed certificates of participation. He did not recommend a lease-purchase agreement or a COP for the public safety building project. Mr. Hildt presented incarceration rate scenarios for the jail and their related annual cost savings. Scenario A assumes an incarceration rate of 2.5 per 1,000 population for existing Auburn population and 1.73 per 1,000 for population growth beyond year 2000. The average annual cost savings for Scenario A is $932,642. Scenario B assumes no action and the existing jail continues and there is no cost savings. Scenario C assumes that by 2010 the actual incarceration rates are 15% lower than the projections. The average annual costs savings for Scenario C is $1,532,936. Scenario D assumes that the projected incarceration rates are low and the actual incarceration rate by 2010 is 15% higher. The average annual cost savings for Scenario D is $207,835. Mr. Hildt proposed additional cost management alternatives to reduce the amount of a proposed bond issue. For the jail, the alternatives include purchasing the required site property with City funds, retaining the evidence-property function in City Hall, retaining the existing workout room in the City Hall basement, seeking an alternative location for fire administration and City Prosecutor, and funding a portion of soft costs with City funds or councilmanic bonds or a general obligation bond issue supported by a portion of jail savings. For the parking garage/firing range, the alternatives include purchasing required property with City funds, funding the firing range as a separate future project, and funding a portion with City funds or a general obligation bond issue supported by a portion of jail savings. III. DISCUSSION Special City Council Meeting Minutes May 17, 2001 Page 7 There was discussion regarding the status of the existing outdoor police firing range and the advantages of an outdoor range versus an indoor range. As development has occurred on the west hill, the existing range has become closer to homes and noise and safety are a concern. Councilmember Wagner also proposed making the new firing range available to the public and other law enforcement jurisdictions to help fund the cost of the facility. Planning and Community Development Director Krauss proposed charging employees for the use of the parking garage. Mr. Krauss also proposed placing the land acquisition and construction of a third fire station on the bond issue proposal. In response to questions from Councilmembers for information on communities that have successfully marketed a proposed public safety bond issue, Mr. Blackstone and Mr. Buursma stated that their firm offers a guide for a successful voted bond issue campaign. The cities of Mount Vernon and Issaquah recently passed bond issues for public safety facilities. There was discussion regarding the amount of reserves that could be used towards the project. Mr. Krauss explained that Council would discuss the issue of reserves at the Council's budget workshop meeting. Councilmember Lewis questioned whether demolition of the existing court/police building was an option. Mr. Blackstone explained demolition would require temporarily relocating the municipal court and police department. Mr. Blackstone stated that complete demolition would be more desirable from a design standpoint. A more functional building could be designed if the whole site was available for design. DLR agreed to provide a cost comparison for a design including demolition of the existing court/police building. It was consensus of the Council to delay implementing the public information component of the DLR contract until later in the planning process since the bond issue proposal is not anticipated until March 2002. Councilmember Poe spoke in favor of including the fire station construction and site acquisition on the same bond issue proposal. It was consensus of Council to pursue an amendment to the DLR consultant contract for design a fire station. Planning and Community Development Special City Council Meeting Minutes May 17, 2001 Page 8 Director Krauss urged the Council to consider purchasing land for the project sites as soon as possible. IV. ADJOURNMENT There being no further discussion, the meeting adjourned at 6:43 PM. APPROVED THIS/<P/~' DAY OF ~ ,2001. Charles A. Booth, Mayor elle Daskam, City Clerk