MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND THE JUSTICE CENTER COORDINATING COMMITTEE:
MAY 13, 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Report from Facilities Sub-Committee
Possible Alternative Site and Report from Jim Novak
Report from Funding/Grants Sub-Committee
Chairperson Harney called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 4:03 p.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan; absent: Terrence Neuzil.
Committee members present were: Justice Center Coordinating Committee Coordinator Bob Elliott, Harney, County Attorney Janet Lyness, Johnson County Bar Association Representative James McCarragher, Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, Professor Emeritus John Stratton, and Sullivan.
Harney said the Press-Citizen facility on North Dodge Street had come up for sale. He said he, Meyers, and Facilities Manager Dave Kempf toured the facility and it could be easily used for a criminal justice center. Harney said a virtual tour of the facility is available through Jeff Edberg of Lepic-Kroeger Realty. The facility is just less than 11 acres and there is plenty of room. Walls can be put in anywhere because it is a self-supported structure. The production area is larger than the office areas, which could be converted to jail space easily with slight modifications.
Harney said he and Kempf met with University of Iowa officials and they are still interested in the current Jail property. He said the big question is what will be done with the Courthouse; with the pricing it may be worth taking a look at other possibilities.
Stutsman said this proposal has not been discussed by the whole Board of Supervisors. Harney said this is just an informational meeting and he is not saying that it should or should not be done. The Press-Citizen property and building are for sale at $3.7 million. Mitch Bloomquist of Novak Design said the building is 43,495 square feet. Harney said 22,400 square feet is open office area. He said a lot of the necessities are already built in.
Jim Novak of Novak Design said the facility has two rows of parking that goes uphill to the street. He said there is a natural security separation between the space and the neighbors; there is a deep ravine. Stutsman asked how much space is in the ravine. Novak said about 600 feet. Kempf said between 500-800 feet. Bloomquist said the ravine is 30 feet deep at its deepest. Novak said if this space was used, vegetation would be planted as a screen for the neighbors. Novak said the plan is designed to maintain security circulation around the building. Currently there is one level of parking, but if the courthouse was placed at this location a second level of parking to separate employee from public parking. The employee parking would be enclosed and gated.
Novak said there would be a separate road for employee parking and access to administration and the jail. The second level public parking would be accessed via bridge to the future courthouse and there would be a security gate. The public can access the Sheriff's Department via an elevator. He referenced a PowerPoint while describing the locations of various administrative and service areas.
Bloomquist said they referenced the Durant Group report and considered how their recommendations could be arranged in the Press-Citizen building. Making numerous references to the PowerPoint, Bloomquist said the Novak plan features the same number of beds as the Durant report, but is over 30,000 square feet smaller. The difference here is that some beds are double-bunked. In Novak's plan, there would be 200 beds in Administrative Housing, 40 beds in Segregation, 48 Dormitory and Treatment beds, and 64 beds for Medium Housing. Bloomquist said that Novak discovered many inconsistencies in the Durant report, which made it difficult to nail down the floor plans. Today's presentation is just a beginning and he recommended re-evaluating the plans.
Novak said his group is taking an existing building and allowing for all the functions outlined in the Durant proposal with 25,000 less square feet. Bloomquist said the County Attorney's Office and the Clerk of Court's Office would be located across the plaza from the Jail at the lower level. The amount of space needed for public circulation was underestimated in the Durant study. The Novak Design plan allows for a lot more space for public circulation. A multiple story building allows for easy separation of users; visitors to the Courthouse are not mixing with visitors to the County Attorney's Office or Clerk of Court's Office. Kempf asked for the rough square footage of the building footprint. Bloomquist said 25,000 square feet. Novak said the County Attorney and the Clerk of Court are right off of the secured parking area and would go up to the Courtrooms. Bloomquist said additional workspace and offices were included in this design, but in the Durant study there were differences from site to site between what was specified in the program and what was laid out in the drawings. To move forward with these plans, Novak Design would need to re-program the building component.
Bloomquist said large conference rooms, a law library, storage areas, and eight by eight foot work stations are put in. The work stations are larger in the Novak plan in order to allow room for future growth. Harney asked if there would be private offices in that space. Novak said they are all private offices. Based on an actual program the Courthouse could be reduced by 15,000 to 18,000 square feet; there was duplication of space in the Durant report. Bloomquist said there would be a basement used for evidence storage, mechanical space, employee break rooms, and a holding area for prisoners moving from the jail into the courthouse. There are also prisoner holding areas at each courtroom. A new program is necessary to determine where and how many holding areas are needed. Novak said the main concern was the separation of prisoners from the public. Bloomquist said they can achieve this by moving the public vertically in the building and staff would move up and down at the end.
Bloomquist said there would be six courtrooms on the second, third, and fourth levels, two large and four medium sized, all with jury support. The square footage can be significantly reduced in the court support and judges chambers. Shared conference rooms will be built in the center of each space. The hearing, meeting, and programs space is located on the top level with four large hearing rooms and smaller conference rooms. Temporary building storage has also been included throughout the building and plenty of restrooms. There is also room for expansion of up to 6,000 square feet on the top floor.
Novak said the area in Phase 1, consisting of the Jail and Sheriff's Department, is considerably different in the two studies. The Durant study allocated 107,320 square feet versus Novak's 70,590 square feet. They did not see a lot of loss in functionality placing the layout in this existing building. The Durant plan for the Courthouse allocated 91,000 square feet versus 106,000 square feet allocated by Novak. He said 15,000 square feet could be saved; he thinks there is extra space in the Durant proposal. The Novak plan saves 37,000 square feet in the Jail but allocates an additional 15,000 square feet in the Courthouse.
Novak said, if they build Phase 1 of the Jail and Sheriff's Department on the Press-Citizen property, the cost would be $19,580,765. Bloomquist said that includes the addition to the Jail. Novak said they tied down the figure of $6,200,000 for the security system and Jail cells. He said the $19.5 million includes furniture and everything needed to completely finish the Jail and Sheriff's Department. He said the estimated cost of the Courthouse is $27,722,475. The estimated cost for the secured lower level parking garage is $2,632,500.
Stutsman asked Novak to clarify what would be done in each phase. Novak said this presents options for phased building should the Board decide to build the Jail first and the courthouse say, five or ten years later. The cost for Phase 1, the Jail, would be $19,580,765, and for Phase 2, the Courthouse, would be $27,722,475.
Novak said the cost of Phase 1, Jail and Sheriff's Office, on the GSA property is $28 million. He said the total cost of the plan if built on the GSA property would be $51 million. Sullivan asked about the difference in parking between the two building sites. Novak said it would be on-grade parking. Sullivan asked if the estimate assumed parking included in the GSA site. Novak said yes. Bloomquist said it would be included in the site work at $1.5 million verses the $2.5 million for a parking structure. Harney said $51 million would be the cost for the GSA property. He asked what the cost of the Press-Citizen site is. Kempf said Novak will get to that.
Novak presented a PowerPoint showing the cost comparisons of each study. The Durant report shows a cost of between $66 and $73 million. He said the Novak study estimated the cost would be $47 million on the Press-Citizen property and $51.4 million on the GSA property. Novak said the Novak Design estimate is 29% to 35% less dollars than the Durant study to build on the Press-Citizen property and between 23% to 30% less on the GSA property. There is about a $4 million difference probably because the Press-Citizen property is laid out nicely for this purpose and they can remodel at $120 per square foot versus new construction costs of $150 to $200 per square foot. University of Iowa Facilities Representative Larry Wilson said the estimate for the Press-Citizen did not include the parking ramp structure. Novak said correct. Wilson said the actual difference in cost is then $2.5 million less. Novak said that is correct, and the cost of the ramp was not included, because a ramp was not planned on the GSA lot.
Novak said that after refining the program, his plan can further reduced the necessary square footage by 15,000 square feet in the Courthouse. At $200 per square foot, the County will get a nice Courthouse; the Health and Human Services Building was $113 per square foot. If Novak can reduce the square footage by 15,000 square feet, the County can spend 34% to 39% less, and on the GSA property there would be a 28% - 34% savings.
Sullivan asked if Novak has GSA site drawings and Novak said no. Sullivan asked if the numbers included using any of the existing buildings, the Sheriff's Office or Courthouse. Novak said no, and added that if they utilize the any existing buildings there would be a greater savings. They could re-use part of the Courthouse and tie it in. Novak said they were using the same square footage and doing an apples to apples comparison of all new construction. Sullivan said, if the Sheriff's Office was left at the current location, the cost would be less. Novak replied absolutely. Bloomquist said the Sheriff's Office and Jail Administration is 11,000 square feet. Harney said Story County utilized stone for the building of walls to save on maintenance and asked if stone was being considered under this plan. Novak said yes. He said the finishes are durable and substantial at $200 per square foot.
Kempf said Novak completed the study very quickly. He and Bloomquist found inconsistencies in the previous study and so they had to make assumptions about the space. Nothing is set in stone yet; the presentation is simply a preliminary study of more affordable options. He added that no matter how the Board chooses to move forward with the plans, reprogramming of space and space allocation will be necessary.
County Attorney Janet Lyness said the GSA plan numbers do not include the existing Courthouse. Novak said that was correct. Lyness said, if the existing Courthouse space was used, the remodeling would be closer to $125 to $150 per square foot. Novak said absolutely. Kempf said money would be saved on the size of the structure, but then money would be spent to remodel the Courthouse. Novak said that is where most of the savings are on the Press-Citizen property. This is one of the few instances when a program can be placed in an existing building without wasting space.
Meyers asked Novak to clarify how prisoners will be moved at the Press Citizen location. Novak said there are many options. He said a corridor could be built or possibly a stair and tunnel from the lower level. He said a tunnel would allow the prisoners to be inside the building at all times. An above ground connection could also be used, but there would have to be open space for traffic and security around the building, and a small tunnel connecting the two buildings would be less expensive. Harney suggested eliminating stairs to reduce the chance for officers getting injured.
Sullivan thanked Novak for his efforts in making these difficult comparisons. He asked, if the existing Courthouse and Jail are used in some capacity, the $48.4 million cost could be considerably reduced. Novak agreed. Kempf said the savings would be roughly $25 to $50 a square foot, not $200 per square foot.
Harney said the Press-Citizen building is on a bus route and has over 11 acres, and pretty much anything could be done on this property. He said the University of Iowa is not interested in taking over the Courthouse, because they do not want a high maintenance facility. The University would help occupy the space if the Board wanted to share space. The only issue with the old Jail site is the sewers will all need to be replaced and it will require a lot of work beyond the remodeling. Meyers asked Harney if the University was interested in the current Jail building. Harney said the University is interested in the Jail, the property, and the Courthouse space but not the entire building.
Novak said the Press-Citizen site is very interesting with the ravine all the way around it and is not buildable for anyone else. The Press-Citizen building is well-hidden. Kempf said the view to the neighboring houses would not be much different than it is now, essentially just seeing the current brick building.
Sullivan said he does not see the benefit to the Press-Citizen site, when the GSA property would be much cheaper with utilizing existing buildings and saving millions of dollars. Novak said the cost comparisons were not fully addressed when utilizing the space in the Courthouse and Sheriff's Office.
Wilson said a comparison between the two cannot be made at this time, because there are many loose ends. He said at the Press-Citizen there is the cost of the building, but there is a parking structure that takes away half the savings in building costs by building on the GSA site. The difference, Wilson said, is about $1.5 million instead of $4 million. Surface parking will be necessary on the GSA site and that requires more land costs. Kempf said those were some of the inconsistencies with the Durant report on the GSA site. Wilson said either way it may take more intensive renovations to the existing Courthouse for whatever use it will have. The cost of the Jail, whether the University buys it, is a neutral factor. Wilson said Novak has done a marvelous job to this point, but he is still having trouble understanding the cost comparisons. Wilson said he is a strong advocate of keeping the justice center in downtown Iowa City. Harney agreed fully and added that the County will have to come up with alternative parking for the GSA in order for them to consider selling the property. Novak said if land is over $15 per square foot it is more economical to build a parking structure that surface parking.
John Stratton said, if the Courthouse is continued to be used for court purposes and the Jail for the Sheriff's functions, there will be greater operating costs than there would be from operating out of one location. The Board should not only consider construction savings, but also operational and transportation costs. Kempf said those are things that have yet to be factored in. Novak said according to a recent, the initial cost of any typical commercial building is 10% of operational costs over a 50 year period. The rest of the cost is in heating, cooling, staffing, and electric. Harney said building on the Press-Citizen site can be done in phases, but on the GSA site everything will be going at once. He said they could consider phasing the project downtown and also possibly utilize space in Harrison Street instead of the GSA lot.
Meyers asked how many beds are suggested for a jail on the Press-Citizen site. Bloomquist said 200 in Administrative Housing, 48 in the Dormitory and Treatment, 40 in Segregation, and 64 in Medium Housing. Meyers said 352 beds total. Bloomquist said Medical Service is a blank area now, because it is unclear what should be included there. Bloomquist said there will be around 400 total beds.
Stutsman asked if the County will be required to have outdoor recreational facilities. Pulkrabek said exercise and natural light is a requirement. Harney said another factor in favor of the Press-Citizen site is its accessibility to Coralville, State Patrol, North Liberty, Iowa City, and the Sheriff's access to the Interstate system.
Sullivan asked Novak if it would be more expensive, cheaper, or cost the same to build what they need on bare ground. Bloomquist said that is how the GSA structure was interpreted. Kempf said the GSA property is designed for multiple stories, and asked if it would be cheaper to build out or up.
Sullivan said he never understood how the Durant study concluded it would be cheaper to build on the GSA property, because of the slope, than on County property at the Johnson County Poor Farm. Novak said the slope on the GSA property is interesting, but he would not say that would make it cheaper to build there. Sullivan said he could understand operational costs, but he could not understand how it would be cheaper to build on land not owned by the County. Novak said it is more interesting to build on a slope, but part of the building will be on the hillside and will not have windows or be as attractive. Depending on the use of the building the area on the slope would be space where natural light is not needed, such as storage. Building on a slope is not necessarily the most efficient or cost-effective option.
Lyness said Durant presented a bigger footprint at the County Farm and there is no reason a smaller facility couldn't be build there. Bloomquist said there are environmental issues with a larger footprint and just because there is land available does not mean it has to be used. Meyers asked if the two stories of the Press-Citizen building will be utilized. Novak said that is where the cells will be stacked on top of each other. Lyness said in the Novak design there is no space in the Administrative Housing area for deposition or treatment rooms. Lyness said there would be room for that in other parts. Harney said this was brought forward as an alternative site. He thinks in the long term it would be more cost beneficial for the taxpayers, Harney estimates a $30 Million savings on the Press-Citizen site, but noted the other site can be cut down from the original study. He said, without a final design or RFP, the exact cost is still unknown. Stutsman said she was glad to have this on the table for serious discussion.
Novak said he thinks there will be savings of at least $3 million. Meyers said the Press-Citizen site has 350 beds programmed and Durant's smallest scenario started out with 240 beds. He said there would be 50% more than originally discussed for current needs. He asked if the Novak design considered future needs. Novak said there is a little bit of room to expand outside of the jail addition, or build on top of the jail addition making four sets of vertical cells. He said it would not take a lot of work. Novak said the size of the foundation would be increased to hold more. Stutsman asked if the possibility of geothermal or retrofitting was considered for the Press-Citizen site. Novak said there were a couple of options that he considered because of the slope. There is a ravine and the drainage could create a geothermal pond for heating and cooling. Another option is vertical geothermal. Stutsman asked if that could be done at the Courthouse location. Novak said it can be done at either location. He said geothermal buildings have to be kept at a constant temperature and a jail is a perfect use for a geothermal system.
Harney said he spoke with Iowa City Planning and Zoning Director Jeff Davidson and the Press-Citizen property is zoned as an office research park. He said Davidson said there would have to be public hearings to change the zoning of the land for public use, but there shouldn't be a problem with doing that. Kempf said the new fire station will be build immediately to the north. Harney said that will be more intrusive than the jail. Sullivan asked what is to be done with this information. Harney said he thinks the Board needs to make a decision soon, because the property is for sale. Lyness said the Board can discuss this or have the Facilities Committee look at the issue more and make a recommendation. She said the issue needs to be looked at more. Kempf said if the interest is there a closer look should be taken to compare the two properties. He said this presentation was put together in a very short time.
Stutsman said there is a Space Needs Committee Meeting on May 15, 2009. Kempf said it could be discussed at that meeting but he does not think there will be more information available at that time. Harney said he thinks the Board needs better numbers, but the property is for sale now and the Board should decide to try to move along or not. Johnson County Bar Association representative James McCarragher asked if there is money available to move along. Harney said he thinks there is. Stutsman said money would be available if the current jail was sold. Kempf said they could not move out of the Jail for a while. Harney said he talked with Finance Director Rich Claiborne and there are steps that could be taken, if the Board decided to purchase the Press-Citizen property. Sullivan said the Board needs to have discussion about what they want to do. Stutsman said she liked Lyness' suggestion of letting the Facilities Committee look at it more closely. Sullivan asked what the deadline is for bringing a recommendation to the Board. Harney said a decision should be made one way or another even if a special meeting is needed.
Stutsman asked if the Board should look at the County Farm as an option. Lyness said they can do that, but the Durant study did look at a lot of the pros and cons of that site. Given that it could be done for almost the same cost on either location, not including reusing the Courthouse, Lyness said she believed the negatives, such as not being on a bus line, outweigh the positives. She noted that the alternative selected was to look at the GSA lot. Sullivan said he agrees and thinks the GSA lot is still a viable solution, and with the re-use of the Courthouse is cheaper, and the Press-Citizen Building should not be further pursued. Harney said he thinks there is considerable savings by going to the Press-Citizen rather than the Courthouse. Sullivan asked how. Harney said ground will have to be purchased for parking space to replace the GSA lot. Sullivan said a ramp could be built at the same cost. Stutsman said the Board does not even know if the GSA lot can be purchased. Kempf said the benefit of the Press-Citizen site is that it is for sale now, while it is still unknown what will be required to acquire the GSA lot.
Sullivan said it will cost money to even explore the Press-Citizen option and he does not see a benefit to the site. Harney said he feels the exact opposite. Sullivan said he does not see how it is cheaper and does not see the point of spending more money to explore the issue. Harney said he does not think it is a waste of money, because the Board has the opportunity to address the jail issues right now and address the justice center at a later date. He said the cost is more downtown. Sullivan said not according to the numbers presented by Novak. He said it is $51 million at any location, but the reuse of the Courthouse and Jail cut down the need to build, decreasing the cost for the GSA site. Pulkrabek said the ability to sell the current Sheriffs office and Jail to the University of Iowa outweighs the good of remodeling the current facility. Sullivan said the Jail property could be sold, but the Courthouse could still be used. Pulkrabek said he thinks that should not be done. Otherwise, three buildings will have to be connected and the refurbishing cost will be expensive. Sullivan said if that is taken out of the mix, it is still $51.7 million to build a new building. If the Courthouse is reused it will be cheaper and it will still be located in the place the community has said they want to have it.
Stutsman asked how the Courthouse space will be reused. Sullivan said it could be used by the County Attorney's office and the Clerk of Court. Lyness said there is no reason the Courthouse building can not be used if there is a secure entrance and if things can be changed. Stutsman said the building is not adequate for courtrooms right now. Kempf said the Clerk of Court will be moved to the ground floor which takes away some of the weight load issues. The County Attorney's office could be moved to the second floor and the third floor Courtroom and Law Library could be maintained. Sullivan said there is 25,000 square feet that does not have to be built. Lyness said that on the third floor the large Courtroom could be kept and one or two jury rooms could be added, have a law library or if the space was rearranged, create more office space. She said the whole building could be used for court purposes including the Clerk's Office, the County Attorney's Office, and court space, as long as there is a secure entrance. Kempf said the actual cost for implementing those measures has not been looked at yet. Sullivan asked if it can't safely be assumed that the cost will be less than building something completely new. Kempf said he would hope so. Sullivan asked why another spot would even be considered if that is the case.
Kempf said the difference between the two is not near what he thought it would be. It is having a known factor versus the unknown ability to acquire another piece of property, and it comes down to timing. Sullivan said they have no idea about timing, because the public can always shoot the idea down. He said time will never be perfect. Sullivan wanted to show his appreciation of the work done, but he does not want to waste time and money. Kempf asked if the Board wanted the Facilities Subcommittee to make a recommendation. Harney said he does not think it can be weighed until there is further study on how much it will cost to convert the Courthouse. Novak said that should be easy to do, because the information is available. Harney said the information is based on the Durant study and not Novak's design. Novak said a lot of the information needed is the parameters of the jail and the needs. He said it would be easy to apply the plan brought to the Board today to the Courthouse site.
Wilson said he was surprised that the Press-Citizen site worked out easily. He said it sounds more viable than he previously thought, but he is an advocate for downtown. He asked what it would take to get a more complete cost comparison, including land and renovation costs. Bloomquist said they can use the square footage numbers to come up with the costs. Wilson said if the savings is enough to be worthwhile, they should at least consider it.
Kempf asked if the Board wanted Novak to do a more thorough cost analysis of the design and alternatives or to have the Facilities Subcommittee put together information and make a recommendation. Stutsman said she thought the Facilities Subcommittee was going to do that. Harney asked if there is money available to pay the Novak to do the analysis. Sullivan said he does not see the point in paying Novak to do it. Stutsman said she feels she has a responsibility to pursue every option. Sullivan said they are not asking the Novak to look at the County Farm. Stutsman said Lyness made a good case against that option. She said the Press-Citizen space was not incorporated in the Durant study. Harney said with the accessibility issue, it is better off at the Courthouse or the Press-Citizen Building.
Meyers said he always liked the downtown site, because it uses the current Courthouse, but there is a continuous juggling act with that site between the County, the University of Iowa, the Iowa City Community School District and the GSA. The advantage of the Press-Citizen site is there is only one entity to deal with and there would not need to be an elaborate agreement negotiated between multiple entities. Stutsman said the advantage she sees is to get off the dime. She said the Board does better when it focuses on one option. Sullivan said the Board was focused on the GSA property, and this whole process was done to look at that location. Stutsman said nothing has been done further. Sullivan said that is the Board's fault. He said a new location does not improve the Board's process; it sets them back.
Meyers said his first preference is the current Courthouse, because if they leave it there is still the question of what to do with the building. Meyers said he does not know if there is enough space to not involve the School District and the GSA or other entities. Pulkrabek said he does not understand why the Board cannot take the School District out of the equation. He spoke with Lyness and they are trying to negotiate space for GSA parking in the new Iowa City parking ramp. He said that would be the County dealing with Iowa City and GSA only.
Stutsman said she thought the School District was involved because GSA wanted to trade property. Pulkrabek said that was the original concept, but the School District does not have money to do anything new. He said GSA was trying to require specifications on the lot for Johnson County that were outrageous. Harney said they would have to buy the property, demolish the facility, and pave it. He said the cost will increase, but on the other hand property will have to be purchased or a parking ramp built to provide spots for the GSA staff and the Post Office. Sullivan asked why they continue to talk about the school district or go off on other tangents. Harney said the issue is buying a place for GSA's parking, so the County can buy the GSA lot. Sullivan said they can put a ramp on their lot. Lyness said, if the County is going to build a lot for the Jail and Courthouse, there is no reason they can't give GSA a floor of parking. In the meantime they will have to contract with Iowa City to get temporary parking. She said they only need to deal with GSA temporarily until a ramp can be built.
Stutsman said she thought the GSA was no longer interested in talking about this issue. Harney said the GSA is interested in discussion. Pulkrabek said GSA made requests that seemed outrageous. Sullivan asked if the Board could have a meeting with GSA, and suggested that staff for Congressman Dave Loebsack, Senator Tom Harkin and Senator Charles Grassley attend. Lyness said it is not difficult especially when they are talking about surface parking. She said the GSA lot needs work and she does not understand why the County cannot get the lot. Sullivan said this process has taken too long. Harney said that is federal bureaucracy; you don't deal with just one person but rather layers of administration. Sullivan said that is why the Congressional staff needs to be used to cut through the bureaucracy to get this priority done.
Elliott said the Board should move ahead with Sullivan's suggestion and should check with the Congressional offices. He also encouraged the Board to keep the Press-Citizen Building as a plan B until they have to determine how much money is needed. He said this meeting had been a good rundown of the facilities and costs but there were not specifics to discuss. He said most Committee and Board members feel that they would like to keep the location downtown, but it is good to have a backup. He said there may be other alternatives, architects willing to give an informal cost estimate. Harney said there is a savings from $30 to $40 million from what was originally thought, and he does not see people voting to have the entire Justice Center at the downtown location.
Elliott said the information provided by University of Iowa Political Science Professor Dave Redlawsk gives the Board good information, but there was not a question in the survey about site location. He said Redlawsk sampled residents on their level of support for a justice center. Kempf said Novak Design was asked to do two things; determine if it could work at the Press-Citizen site and if there would be a cost savings between that and the GSA site. He said Novak is not making a recommendation of one site over the other. Kempf said the first thing that had to be determined was could the Press-Citizen site work. He said he thinks the Facilities Subcommittee should be used to determine what the next step should be. He said the numbers provided by Novak are a lot more encouraging than previous numbers. Elliott said everyone agrees the Courthouse must stay and it would be preferable to have the Courthouse used for something also. Kempf said it will be used for something, it is just a matter of determining what. Elliott said now the Board has a main site downtown and a plan B site, which is available right now. It is not known what will happen with the preferred site, but the plan B is available and might provide savings. Sullivan said he is not convinced that the Press-Citizen site will provide savings.
Kempf said the numbers are close for the two locations. He said he asked Novak to take a closer look at the costs from the other study. Sullivan asked if the Board should put more effort into looking into the alternative option. Elliott said it is good that there are alternatives and he assumes there will be additional options. Kempf said absolutely. Stratton said it all comes down to the land, so they need to know what the GSA is willing to do. The County is spending $100,000 a month to house inmates out-of-county and it would be better to spend the money in the county. He said this issue cannot go to the public until the land is acquired. Pulkrabek asked if representatives from the GSA could be brought to the Board during a key issues meeting. Harney said the GSA representative will come to the meeting, but will say that he does not have authority to make decisions.
Sullivan said County Treasurer Tom Kriz is working with Springstead to put numbers together for bonding and borrowing. He said Kriz was going to use $40 million, $50 million, $60 million, and $70 million. He said Kriz is going to figure out how much it will cost to bond and how long it would to pay off. He said as soon as Kriz has the information, they will have another meeting.
The Committee scheduled its next meeting for June 3, 2009 at 4:00 p.m.
Adjourned at 5:25 p.m.
______________________________________________________________________
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By:
On the _______ day of _____________________, 2009
By Kaitlyn Dodds, Recording Secretary
Sent to the Board of Supervisors on July 17, 2009 at 2:30 p.m.