MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
MARCH 28, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Space Needs Work Session..................................................................................................... 1
Administration Building............................................................................................... 1
Department of Public Health....................................................................................... 5
Human Services......................................................................................................... 5
Chairperson Harney called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:00 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Facilities Director David Kempf said they are here to discuss what components of the Administration Building they want to relocate into the new Health and Human Services (HHS) Building and what that change will mean for the Administration Building. Harney asked about the timeline. He asked if they decide to take some departments out of the Administration Building and into the new building, should they include those departments in the design. He also asked at what point they would be looking at reallocating space in the Administration Building. Kempf said that the Architectural and Engineering (A&E) firm with whom they contract will have the reprogramming as part of their contract.
Stutsman said that the Board needs to be clear on this process because they have said many things about what might or might not be moving. Kempf thought that the Board had agreed to move some departments out of the Administration Building so that they wouldn't have to build an addition on to it. He noted that it would be much cheaper to build departments into the new building than it would be to build an addition to the Administration Building. He said that with the 60,000 finished square feet, they are hoping for 30,000 per floor. Of that 60,000, 15,000 would be assigned to Public Health, 15,000 to Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities, and 15,000 to the Department of Human Services. Kempf said that would leave 15,000 left over for reallocation of Juvenile Probation, Veteran Affairs, and break room space. He said this is a general break down not an exact figure. He said that right now Public Health has 7,500 square feet, so they don't need 15,000.
R. Sullivan said that one thing that would be beneficial in the HHS building is a big conference room. For many Board meetings, the current room is inadequate. He could imagine having a big conference room in the new building that is like the one at the Iowa City Public Library with walls that could be opened and closed. Kempf said that some of the floor plans have included meeting room and conference room space. Stutsman said they need to be consistent about where they are going to hold Board meetings to save people from running back and forth. Harney said he would prefer to have a Board room in the Administration Building, but they could go somewhere else for a large meeting. Neuzil asked if they want to have two Board rooms. Harney said yes. Stutsman said she would prefer to have a Board room in the new building where they have all of their meetings. Harney said Board meetings belong at the Administration Building. Kempf said in the HHS Building there will definitely be a room that they can open up for big events. Stutsman said that if they are going to build the new space, then they might need to change their current policy about other entities using that space. She said that it is not a good use of tax dollars to have three or four conference rooms that might sit empty. She said that if they do allow others to use the rooms, parking will be an issue. Kempf said it is common to make large meeting spaces open to other groups if they want to use it.
Stutsman said she would like to have one board room that is equipped with all of the technology that they might need. Harney said he doesn't have a problem with that but he thinks that room belongs in the Administration Building. Neuzil said the Board meetings could be held at the other building, but they could keep the meeting room in the Administration Building but make it smaller. They could use the latter room for smaller meetings like key issues meetings where they normally have fewer than three members of the public, if any. Harney said that if they keep taking space away from the HHS Building, they will be finishing the third floor sooner than they want. They are reallocating people to the HHS building so that they have more room in the Admin Building. R. Sullivan said he agrees with Stutsman about having a room that can change in configuration. Harney said they could have that in the Administration Building. Neuzil said they don't have space for that. Harney said they could move the Recorder's Office then there would be a large area without any pillars or obstructions. Stutsman said they could move Planning and Zoning to the HHS building and then have other offices move down the hall.
Kempf suggested the Board focus on which offices they want to relocate in the new building. Offices that have been discussed in the past include Information Services, which would free up 2,500 square feet in the Administration Building. Information Services Director Jean Schultz said they need to leave a little space in the back where all the wiring is for the phone system. Kempf said that another office that has been discussed is Human Resources, which is a total of 550 square feet. The current conference room and Board space is about 2,000 square feet. The Recorder's Space is about 2,900 square feet. His office is 100 square feet. R. Sullivan said they had talked about doing a slightly bigger employee breakroom in the other building. Kempf said that is also a possibility. He asked if there are other offices that the Board would like in the new building. Neuzil mentioned some additional space for the Auditor's Office where the current mail room is. Kempf said that is a little less than 400 square feet. Stutsman said that Planning and Zoning needs more space. Kempf said that Building Inspection has no space. They have one of the worst spaces in the County, so something absolutely needs to be done for them. Even if they were given the storage area in Information Services, they would have 300 more square feet than what they have currently.
Kempf said that most of the people who come to the Administration Building go to the Treasurer's Office, followed by the Auditor's Office. It makes sense for both of those to be on the first floor. Kempf said that if County Treasurer Tom Kriz says he doesn't need all of the space he currently has, some of that space could be used for Building Inspections. It would put them close to an outside entrance. He said he doesn't know how close Planning and Zoning and Building Inspections need to be to each other. Perhaps it is enough that they are in the same building, he said. Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak said that because of the interaction with the public, they need to be side by side. R. Sullivan said that Planning and Zoning Secretary II Mary Craig and Secretary I Jen Hathaway have to be able to get to help the public for both offices.
Stutsman asked if the City Assessor needs to be in the Administration Building. She asked how much interaction there is between the County Assessor and the City Assessor. City Assessor Dennis Baldridge said that the County is required to provide space for the City Assessor. He explained that they have quite a bit of interaction with the Auditor and the Recorder. From the public standpoint, it is nice to have them side-by-side because they are usually going from one to the other. He said that they also need to have counter space that is visible from all points in the office.
Stutsman said they need to discuss the Board offices. Neuzil said that if they are willing to make the Board room a smaller meeting room, they could use the left over space for offices. Harney said they could switch places with the Recorder's Office. R. Sullivan said that he doesn't want to have a Board room that sits empty most of the time just so they can have it for twice a month when they do need a big room. He said that it has to be something that can be easily closed off in sections so that it can be used by others. Kempf said there are all sorts of moveable walls available. R. Sullivan said they have to be good enough walls that people will actually use them. He said that Human Resources won't use the modular walls in the current Board room because they know that people can hear through them. Kempf said that technology has come a long way with soundproofing. Stutsman asked if Harney is thinking of taking the whole south end of the Administration Building. Harney said they could use as much as they need. Kempf said that is one of the possibilities. Kempf recommended that all of the Administration Building space be reevaluated with openness to suggestions. Stutsman said that the architect may come up with ideas that they have never thought of. Meyers said that the firm may be able to offer up six different floor plans for them to choose from.
Stutsman said that she does not want any big empty space in the HHS Building like the lobby of the Administration Building. Kempf said he has emphasized functionality in the requests. He said the center piece to the County is no longer the Courthouse but the Administration Building. He said that the HHS building needs to focus on function.
Harney said that MH/DD has concerns about privacy and space with walls. Kempf said that sound-masking technologies exist. Construction firms are familiar with HIPPA regulations and know that they have to meet these kinds of regulations. He said that he went out to Systems Unlimited to tour their new building. The people who spend 25-80% of their time in the field do not have dedicated office space. They have work areas where they have a computer and a small room for confidential phone calls.
Neuzil reiterated that Information Services and Human Resources will move to the HHS Building. He asked about space for Kempf and the Medical Examiner. Kempf said that the Medical Examiner's vehicle is probably going to be relocated to Secondary Roads, possibly in the SEATS garage. Once they get gates with a keycard access, they will be able to have 24-hour access to the car. Stutsman asked if the Medical Examiner's office will be out there. Kempf said they do have a couple of extra office spaces in mind. Harney said that Medical Examiner Administrator Mike Hensch said that the Human Resources area would be perfect for him because he would have storage space for the records and his office and his intern's space. Stutsman asked if it would make sense to put Hensch near the vehicle. Kempf said not necessarily. Ultimately, the Medical Examiner Administrator would go with the Justice Center. Harney said that people at the hospital assist and use the vehicle so it doesn't have to be parked at the Administration Building.
Harney said the Board has been asked about having a space in the new facility for coffee and sandwiches. Kempf said there will be some possibilities for a cart with snacks and drinks. He said the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics does this. He said this is an easy thing to accommodate if they want to have it. Stutsman asked if they have an issue with vending machine supplies. Kempf said that he doesn’t know of any. If a business isn't going to provide the supplies themselves, they are supposed to give priority to any handicapped business owners who have the right of first refusal. Harney said the cost of the items in the Administration Building vending machines is getting prohibitive.
The Board discussed extra space that the Facilities Department might have currently. Kempf said that they do have a storage area adjacent to the Auditor’s Office that they use to keep tools and spare parts. Harney said the boiler room noise is going to prevent that area from being used for much. Kempf said that in addition to the noise, there is the temperature. The boiler is surrounded by outside walls for ventilation. One morning his office, which is adjacent to the boiler room, was 46 degrees. He said they can do some sound-proofing and some insulating in order to use that space. There is approximately 400 square feet that could possibly be reprogrammed.
The Board decided to put Human Resources and Information Services and an employee break room in the new building. R. Sullivan said that leaves about 4,000 square feet that will be freed up in the Admin Building. Kempf said that these offices will need more space in the new building. Harney said they haven’t discussed storage space. Kempf said that would be programmed as part of the new building. The tables now are so much better than the current ones as far as ease of storage and usage. Now that they know a couple of the entities that they are moving over, they can get a better sense of how to meet the needs of the offices in the current building.
Harney said they will probably sell the current Public Health facility or use it for storage. Stutsman said they told the taxpayers that they are going to sell that building, so they have a commitment to do that. Neuzil said that they need to be careful given the future of their storage space at the University. He thought they would have to have something new or different. R. Sullivan asked if they are building more storage at Secondary Roads and the SEATS building. Kempf said they are programming in as much record storage as possible on a mezzanine or second level. When they reconfigure the existing Secondary Roads space, they will need to reconvert some of that office space back to shop space. Now, the Auditor’s Office has a lot of storage above the offices at Secondary Roads. A portion of that space is already going to be used, but there will be a good gain. Harney said probably much of that material could go; it is just a matter of taking the time to get it done. Kempf said there will have to be an open space in the center of the storage area for air circulation and using forklifts and such to move large quantities of material.
Neuzil asked if there has been any talk about using the third floor of the new building or the autoparts store for storage. Kempf said the Auditor’s Office currently has almost 4,000 square feet in the Administration Building not counting the conference room at the bottom of the stairs. They are by far the single largest user within the Administration Building. Harney said that the conference room downstairs is not handicapped accessible. Kempf said it would make more sense to have the doorway going in from the support area rather than off the lobby stairs. R. Sullivan asked how much space is at CarQuest. Kempf replied that the Auditor's Office uses over half of the space for the old voting machines, which will go away soon. He said that building is definitely in play. Neuzil said that there are some concerns about the security for space for ballots. Stutsman asked where Kempf’s space is at. He said he isn’t sure. He said Facilities is usually whatever space is available. Neuzil said Kempf could be where Human Resources is or where the storage space currently is. Kempf said it could be a portion of the City Assessor’s Office if there is a small chunk left over. His concern is that they need to have a maintenance storage space for parts and prints. As far as his office goes, he could be happy anywhere but would appreciate a window. He said he isn’t concerned about his needs because they are flexible.
Kempf said they will be doing the first round of interviews for architectural and engineering firms on April 16, 2007 and they will short list two firms. Then, those forms will come in to interview in front of the Board at the end of April. M. Sullivan said they had 13 responses. Kempf said it will be fairly easy to select five very qualified candidates for the first round. Once they select the two, they will get copies of the packets to the Board members before the presentation.
Adjourned at 10:12 a.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary