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10-21-13 Police Bldg Workshop MINUTES OF THE WORKSHOP OF ATLANTIC BEACH CITY COMMISSION HELD IN THE COMMISSION CHAMBER ON OCTOBER 21,2013 City Commission Members present: Mike Borno, Mayor Maria Mark, Mayor Pro Tern Mark Beckenbach, Commissioner Jonathan Daugherty, Commissioner Carolyn Woods, Commissioner Staff present: Jim Hanson, City Manager Michael Classey, Chief of Police Nancy Bailey, Recording Secretary Also present: Jimmy Hill, Commissioner-elect The meeting, which was held for the purpose of discussing the police building project was called to order at 6:32 p.m. by Mayor Borno. He welcomed Commissioner-elect Jimmy Hill. He stated they all had the agenda as well as a handout from Steve Lindorff(which is attached and made part of this Official Record as Attachment A). He asked that Chief Classey give a summary of the history of the planning for the police building and stated they will have public input before they go into the Commission discussions. Chief Mike Classey gave a slide presentation (which is attached and made part of this Official Record as Attachment B) summarizing the highlights of the history of the planning for the police building. He answered questions from the Commission. Mayor Borno explained the process for public comments and opened the Courtesy of the Floor to Visitors. Lou Keith, 1845 Tierra Verde Drive, stated he liked what Chief Classey said. We had a building with about half staff at 4,000 s.f. when this whole thing started. He stated he is a big believer in comparative analysis. He stated he previously sent them a comparison of the first five police departments starting in Fernandina Beach to St. Augustine stating the average square footage of these five facilities per employee is approximately 220 s.f. He stated if you multiply that by how many employees our police department has today and it comes up to about 9,000 s.f. which seems like a pretty doable number. He stated as a member of the Police Committee he had no confidence in any of the figures provided by that architectural firm. He stated the newly elected/reelected Commission made a promise to this community not to borrow money. He stated they could do very well by adding a storage facility on City-owned property and remodeling the existing building and putting on additions and operating very efficiently. He stated space can be saved by simple scheduling. Steve Kallao, 552 Dutton Island, stated the citizens don't want to infringe in the park and don't want to spend $5,000,000 so they would have to say what are their other considerations, which would be moving the police building somewhere else or remodeling the existing building. He stated he reviewed the flood plain situation with Mike Griffin and, as you know, the existing building was in the 100 year flood plain but the new flood plain documents came out June 3 and it is now in the 500 year flood plain. He stated this means, in terms of construction, the costs Minutes—City Commission Workshop October 21,2013 Page 2 would go down considerably because they don't have to adhere to FEMA's construction rules and don't have to raise the level of the floor plan. He stated if they did decide to remodel that building it would mean a lot in terms of construction costs because before it was prohibitive but now that they don't have to adhere to those, it would be a viable alternative to add additions and remodel the existing building, if that's what they decide to do. Jack Varney, 2257 Ocean Forest Dr. W., stated the decision has to be made by the Commission and if they think somebody else can make it for them they are just wasting our time and our money. It is your job, you do it and you face the music; it's a contentious issue. You need to trust the people who work for you, they will bring you the information you need and if they don't you can deal with them because they are your employees. Take advantage of the people you have there; don't believe anything you see that comes from anyone else outside without checking it out and having it documented in writing and checked out by somebody who knows, because there are too many numbers out there that are phony. He stated a suggestion to the Commission is to be thorough, do it right, do it right the first time so you don't have to do it again. You are going to take heat, take the heat and move on. No one else from the audience spoke so Mayor Borno closed the Courtesy of the Floor to Visitors. Mayor Borno stated they keep hearing 14,000 s.f. and $5 million. He stated that is history and is not where we are at. He stated we are here to make the best viable decision and figure out what we need. He stated we are not here to design the police department, etc., we are here to establish what they are willing to consider and that will govern what they are going to look at and how much they will put into it. He stated, related to the comment about borrowing money, they have accumulated up to $2.7 million currently from half cent sales tax to do whatever and they don't have to look for another source of funds; they can always look for half cent sales tax. He stated it has to be worked out in how much they want to restrict the usage of that for other projects. Mayor Borno asked the City Manager if the information on the 500 year flood plain was correct. Mr. Hanson stated that was not his understanding. He stated he believes they need to get an architect who is familiar with the FEMA rules to look at it if they want to pursue this building. He stated they need to look at what is proposed and give them an educated written recommendation as to what it would cost to meet the regulations. Discussion ensued regarding the 100 year and 500 year flood plain. Commissioner-elect Jimmy Hill stated, from listening to the citizens, a new police building is not the answer and they should consider remodeling this building as a compromise. He stated the officers are living in a pig sty and it has to be addressed immediately. He stated they have to give these officers a better work environment as soon as we can. He stated he believes the Animal Control could function out of any building the City owns just as well, which would free up some space; unless there is some violent aspect that he is not aware of that we are protecting with the law enforcement, which may be the case. He stated he got a clear message that the citizens don't want a new building and he is very much for a remodel of this facility. He stated the new information on the flood plain is certainly worth looking at. He stated it makes it much more attractive than it was knowing that we might put money into something that is really Minutes—City Commission Workshop October 21, 2013 Page 3 expensive to upgrade. He stated if there was a chance that we don't have to spend that additional money to raise the elevation, he understands it. Mayor Borno passed the Chair to Commissioner Woods, stating this is going to be a decision made underneath her as Mayor. He asked if she would take the Chair, hold the Commission discussion and carry on with that part of it, he would appreciate it. Commissioner Woods thanked the Mayor. She stated she would like to ask everyone to state yes or no as to whether they should remodel, build a new building or look for a new place. Mayor Borno stated he believes the best approach would be to get an architect to evaluate that building to see if anything can be done to it to make it serviceable to support the operations of this department within the budget. Commissioner Mark stated she believes they should look at a new site and use this money for new construction rather than taking a risk that we are putting good money after bad. She stated it is not the expansion part, except that it will take out some trees and we will have some parking issues, but her main concern is the remodeling. She stated it would make better sense to her to concentrate on finding a proper site in the Mayport area on Levy Road. She stated if they do their due diligence and look at a site that would work and know the cost for new construction then they would know almost to the penny what they are going to spend. She stated this building could be rehabbed to be used as a community center. She stated the police station would be in an area where is it probably needed the most. Commissioner Daugherty stated, as stewards of resources and representatives of the citizens, they need to find something that is paletteable and meets the needs of the police department. He stated his preference is to renovate and expand the existing building but he is also open to looking at a Levy Road location. Commissioner Beckenbach stated, at a minimum, he would look at refurbishing this building with an option to expand the building. He stated he does not see using anymore than we already have saved. He stated there is a lot they can do with that amount of money. Slides were shown of the expanded site. Mayor Borno stated related to the report that Steve Lindorff submitted, Chief Classey was asked if he had seen it and was it accurate and he stated it was not totally accurate. Commissioner-elect Hill asked if the funds that were saved for this project were not spent on this project where would they go, or were they borrowed. Mr. Hanson stated none of them were borrowed. He stated they would have the same restrictions as when they came in. He stated he believes all of the funds came from half cent sales tax funds. They would be limited to the same improvements that Better Jacksonville Half Cent Sales Tax Funds are which are capital improvement projects, mostly bricks and mortar, but you could do street projects or sidewalks. Commissioner-elect Hill stated the location of that building anchors this park because there is the strong perception that there is a strong police presence which is one of the reasons moving it is a scary thing. He stated the bones are good but the AC unit was not replaced on the fire side and will need to be done at some point. He stated he does not want to move it, but does want to Minutes—City Commission Workshop October 21,2013 Page 4 modify it to fit today's standards. He stated he believes they can do a better job of utilizing even what is there. He stated they can get an architect and tell them what we need it to do and then they might get the right answer. Discussion ensued regarding the location. Commissioner Woods stated it all comes back to how the department is run and where we focus our resources, stating she believes we need more COPS officers. Discussion ensued. Commissioner Mark stated it had been suggested to her that they look for another place to put the fire station and have the City of Jacksonville help them do some kind of relocation with that, possibly even in Neptune Beach. Mr. Hanson stated that suggestion was made to Neptune Beach officials and was very quickly shut down. Commissioner Woods stated she wants to get more officers into different parts of the community, and get as minimal a building as they can come up with so they can be conservative with their resources. She stated most people like it here and she believes it can be remodeled. Discussion ensued regarding Animal Control. Commissioner-elect Hill asked what is the difference between COPS officers and regular officers. Chief Classey explained the difference. Discussion ensued. Commissioner Woods recapped that five Commissioners are willing to renovate with expansion staying within budget of the money that has been set aside. Commissioner-elect Hill asked if a reasonable renovation can take place in two stages so they can function out of the building or should they immediately make plans for a period of time to house them. Chief Classey stated he believes they would need to plan on moving offsite. Commissioner Woods stated they could have the architectural team look at that. Mr. Hanson stated it may be possible to put temporary space, such as the portables used at the schools, located in the parking lot. Commissioner Mark stated they need to also think about total disruption to community, at the five-way, the park, etc. due to the construction. Chief Classey stated he shares some of Commissioner Mark's concerns about this facility but he doesn't believe the Commission can move on to another site until it exhausts the abilities of the current site. He stated what can be done on that site and what the cost will be are two big factors. Commissioner Mark stated it is going to cost us money to figure out what can be done and what that cost is going to be, so of that $2.7 million be prepared to spend money to have an architectural design company to do that whole analysis. She stated they will be spending money on something that, in her mind, could still be a major question mark as to whether that is something we want to do. Commissioner-elect Hill stated the good thing is that the structure of that building is a very simple structure, it is not a complex building. He stated it is a 2x4 framed building with sheetrock walls; it is very easy to make major adjustments. He stated structurally it is a truss roof that will withstand whatever interior wall changes that need to be made, fairly simply. He stated it is pretty feasible to do most anything and it definitely needs to be done. He stated his concern is getting these officers into a working environment quickly. Minutes—City Commission Workshop October 21,2013 Page 5 Commissioner Woods stated she will put this on the agenda in the very near future to develop an RFP to have an architectural firm look at our site and tell us where to go. Commissioner Daugherty suggested it might be very symbolic for this Commission to put this on next agenda. Discussion ensued. Mayor Borno stated Winston Churchill was addressing Parliament during World War II when they asked him, in his wisdom, to give some words of advice. He stated Churchill got up and said, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never give up, then he sat down. Mayor Bomo stated keep that in mind. Commissioner Woods reiterated they will have this on the agenda and asked the Commission to send in what they believe the parameters should be, or decide whether they would like another workshop to discuss. Further discussion ensued. Mr. Hanson stated he and Chief Classey should be involved in these discussions. Commissioner Woods clarified that at the workshop on October 28 they will bring the items they would like to develop in an RFP and on the November 12 they will vote on developing an RFP. Mr. Hanson stated the Commissioners should come to the meeting on October 28 with their parameters for the RFP so they can start putting those together. Commissioner Mark stated after the vote on November 12 they can have a workshop to actually do the RFP. Mr. Hanson explained the meetings on November 12 are to complete old business with the current Commission, then they will adjourn the current Commission, swear in the newly elected officials and reconvene with the new Commission. Commissioner Woods clarified that the issue of the RFP will be on the portion of the meeting with the new Commission. Commissioner Woods reopened the floor to visitors. Don Ford, stated Fleet and Associates already did a needs assessment and the building hasn't changed since then. Jack Varney, stated this isn't going to be as easy as they think it should because there are some other finer requirements they will have to build into that RFP, i.e. laboratory for fingerprinting, sally ports and holding cells and cost justification analysis to determine what they are going to have or not have, etc. He suggested they go back to the requirements that were set forth previously, analyze the cost benefits of them, prioritize them and then build what they need into that RFP from that list. Mark Tomaski, 448 Snapping Turtle Court West, asked why the video was not on tonight, stating he received several calls and texts asking why it wasn't on because they thought this was a very important topic. Mr. Hanson replied that we have a limited budget and a number of times Minutes—City Commission Workshop October 21,2013 Page 6 we can put meetings on. He stated we don't have the budget to televise every meeting that goes on and if the Commission wants to expand the budget they can do that. Commissioner Mark stated if they start getting into the details of what is going into the building then they are going to get into this whole other discussion about the police and the procedures, etc. Commissioner Woods stated she believes they are staying within the parameters, this is the site and this is our budget and then they will talk to the Chief about prioritizing the needs and space on those parameters. Further discussion ensued. Commissioner Woods stated she wants to include green building codes and discuss how far down that road they want to go. Discussion ensued. Commissioner Woods turned the meeting back over to Mayor Borno. There being no further discussion by the City Commission, Mayor Borno declared the meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m. Nancy E. B iley 2 Carolyn V•ds Recording Secretary Mayor ATTACHMENT A THE TRUTH ABOUT THE POLICE FACILITY COMMITTEE'S WORK • The committee NEVER entertained a$5.2 million facility. It started with the"value engineered"$4.8 million version of the ADG consulting firm's plan.And the$4.8 million version was quickly rejected by the committee as over-built and too expensive. o SIDE NOTE:ADG got the size of the various components right.They are recognized experts and have over 170 public safety clients throughout the southeast U.S., including working with the Haskell Company on design and construction of the Jax Beach police building.The REAL ISSUE is which of the various components are needed v.those that are simply nice to have. • The Police Chief gave the committee as list of the Necessary v.the Nice components which committee members then used to derive the"right"size for a new facility. NECESSARY NICE ELIMINATED Administration Chief's Office-217sf Chief's Conference Room-180sf Waiting Vestibule-80sf Chief's Administrative Assistant Mini-Break Room-20sf Storage-40sf Space-224sf Restroom-64sf Support Services Commander's Office-160sf Records Unit Records Work Area-284sf Public Access Counter-60sf Records Storage-182sf Officer Access Window-24sf Records Supply Storage-55sf Copier/Work/Supply Area-140sf Juvenile File Storage-74sf Supply Receiving Area-40sf Animal Control Office Area-72sf Secured Storage-24sf File Storage-24sf Investigations Division Interview/Safe Room-144sf CSU Detective's Work Area-128sf General Detective's Work Area- 128sf Secured Storage-80sf Sergeant's Office-80sf Equipment Storage-40sf Copy/Work/Supply Storage-140sf Property&Evidence Evidence Custodian Work Area- Officer Drop-Off Area-120sf 126sf Bulk Evidence Storage-300sf Evidence Retrieval Area-60sf Valuables Vault-25sf Wash-Up Area-20sf Narcotics Vault-55sf Weapons Vault-53sf Evidence Processing Lab/Decom- 66sf Misc. Evidence Storage-300sf NECESSARY NICE I ELIMINATED Patrol Division Patrol Hub-144sf EOC/Tactical/Training Room-140sf Secured Equipment Storage-40sf Sergeant's Open Work Area-252sf File Storage-40sf Briefing/Muster Room-266sf COPS Bike Storage-40sf Commander's Offices-266sf Communications Call Taker/Dispatch Work Stations- Public Access Window-24sf 209sf Supervisor's Office-60sf Officer's Access Window-24sf Secured Equipment Room-117sf Fire Suppression Equipment Room- 60sf Uni-Sex Restroom-60sf Misc.Storage-40sf Locker/Break Area-39sf Facility Functional Areas Public Lobby-331sf Central Breakroom-160sf Quartermaster Storage-160sf Public Restrooms-250sf Armory-120sf Second Floor Vestibule-120sf Holding Cells-216sf Ammunition Storage-60sf Hazmat/Drug/Blood Drying Room- 80sf Booking Desk-94sf Tactical Equipment Storage-140sf Secured Interview Room-66sf Sallyport-658sf Facility Services Janitor's Closets-21sf Staff Restrooms-448sf Electrical Room-120sf Mechanical Rooms-138sf Staff Locker Rooms-320sf Mobile Command Vehicle Storage- 640sf Data Cable Closet-20sf Server/IT Room-100sf Emergency Generator Enclosure- Data Cabling Closet-20sf 156sf Misc.Storage-200sf Summary Data TOTAL IN ADG PLAN =13,114 sf TOTAL IN COMMITTEE'S"COST FEASIBLE" PLAN =5,468 sf plus 1,880 sf for hallways,etc. =7,348 sf • Allowing for a bit of building design "wiggle room",the Committee ultimately agreed to recommend a new building housing the"Necessary"components listed above which would not exceed 9,000 sf. o SIDE NOTE:Some of the components in the category involve police operational policy choices that are within the province of the City Commission in concert with its staff.These include the sally port and holding cells.These were left in the Committee proposal by majority vote. • With the help of a volunteer with architectural training, a sketch floor plan was developed that had a total footprint of 65'x 136',or 8,840 sf.,and could be accommodated (but take up much area) in the same location as the ADG plan. • The components that were labeled "Nice"could be accommodated by remodeling the existing police building which would not necessarily have to be done immediately, but accomplished over time as funds were available.The committee recommended that up to 4,999 sf be set as the limit to avoid any potential issues with "substantially improving" an existing structure. • The committee recognized that it did not possess the expertise to provide a definitive cost estimate, but, believing that the charge to committee mandated one,went through an exercise of applying a number of scenarios to derive some cost data.This resulted in the following information being added to the final report: Based on ADG Data Based on CC&A Committee Adjustment Estimator's Data Using Mid-Range Cost New Building $2,295,000 $2,016,000 $2,133,000 [$255/sf] [$224/sf] [$237/sf] Remodeled Space $600,000 $600,000 $1,184,762 [$120/sf] ($120/sf] ($237/sf] Site Work $350,000 $350,000 $350,000 Furnishings/Equipment $250,000 $250,000 $250,000 A/E Fees $280,000 $257,280 $313,421 Estimated Cost $3,775,000 $3,473,280 $4,231,183 • The bottom line is that NO ONE can really say what the building will cost because the final building program has not been decided nor has a realistic budget been set.That is why the committee strongly recommended that the Commission retain the services of a Design-Build construction firm to work with the Commission and staff on a two-phased process with the first being an exploratory step that would lead to finalizing a program for the construction of the new facility and establishing a maximum guaranteed price (a "budget")followed by actually solving the problem by building the project. Steve Lindorff, Member Police Facility Citizen's Committee 2092 Vela Norte Circle Atlantic Beach, FL 32233 Atlantic Beach Police Building October 21 , 2013 f Y r � Z ■Building Astor v Sum 1 ;9$ 7 -constructed approximately 4 , 000 s ft q { =x s ° ' Total staff -.04,,,,,,....ssthan %2 of current staff Prior to construction , staff redicted buildin would be p g too small for the police_.needss ■ 1993 -first architectural plans for expansion introduced , however did not move forward ■ 1999 -fire contract signed and police took over approximately 2 , 000 additional sq ft that was previously allocated to fire operations x t.,:.,4,.‘, 5' „.„ --- ,-",• ,„ - __ 1/2- - building History continued '‘• ► 2004 -Commission budgeted $ 30, 000 for design ��'" of remodeling and expansion to the police �� departmeñt ' _ � ' June, 2005 -Fleet & Assoc provided an expansion plan of 2 , 841 sq ft at an approx. cost of $ 965 , 734 . ■ October, 2005 -Commission believed expansion was inadequate , directed staff to seek architectural firm that specializes in public safety buildings building History continued ■ 2006 -Public Safety Architect reviewed Fleet & Assoc . proposal and reported that proposed expansion was insufficient to meet the needs of the Po lice Department ■ January 2007 -Commission tours of other police department buildings ■ 2007 -Several sight evaluations for new police department conducted Building History continued June 2008 -Spatial needs assessment completed and determined 14 , 000 sq ft was the need ■ September 2008 -Commission approved annual budget, including cost for police building design ■ November 2009 -Commission authorized the design of a new law enforcement facility building History continued ■ September 2010 -Commission approved design option for new building ■ August 2011 - 100% design plans completed by architect, final decision deferred until new commission is seated ■ January 2012 -Commission decided not to proceed with the police building as designed . ■ Feb - May 2012 -Commission appointed citizen committee on police building . Building committee recommended construction of a new 9,000 sq ft building and renovation of existing 5 ,000 sq ft building Building History continued June 201 2 -Commission decided to not pursue citizen building committee recommendation ■ October 2013 -Staff awaiting direction from city commission as to how and when to proceed