HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommittee of the Whole 1 August 13 20021
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
Committee Of The Whole
August 13, 2002
The meeting was called to order at 3:15 p.m. by Council Chair L. Ward
Nelson in the Council Committee Room, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham,
Washington.
Present: Absent:
Barbara Brenner None
Laurie Caskey- Schreiber
Sam Crawford
Seth Fleetwood
Dan McShane
Sharon Roy
1. DISCUSSION REGARDING WHATCOM COUNTY'S MASTER FACILITY
PLAN (A62002 -302C)
Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator introduced Harris Falkin, HDR
Architecture Engineer and Director of Justice Facilities; Donn Hogan, project
designer; and David King, Stewart +King. The Omni -Group is attached to this team
effort. They are not here today.
Falkin expressed his appreciation for working on this project. They work by a
team approach. His clients are an integral part of the team. He needs their input
to do this the way Whatcom County wants it done. He also recognizes that money
is precious. They will do cost - effective master planning. Two years ago, he knew
this project was coming and decided to focus his expertise and the expertise of the
Omni - Group. The Omni -Group is a specialized programming and planning
organization from Los Angeles. His firm has worked with the Omni -Group
nationwide. He gave background information on HDR Architecture and Omni -
Group, Inc. Siting controversial projects in this state, given the State
Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), the appearance of fairness issues, and
environmental sensitivities, is an interesting challenge. This group has worked
together successfully in the past. All of their needed expertise is in- house. If they
don't have a certain expertise, they will use local community members.
David King, Stewart +King, gave background information on his company and
its various projects. His emphasis on this team will be on the non - justice facilities.
They are coming from a local point of view. His practice is more general than that
of HDR Architects. He will work with the peripheral facilities specifically, and with
the team to bring everything together.
Committee of the Whole - afternoon, 8/13/2002, Page 1
DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
1 Falkin discussed the master plan objectives. They need to make a plan that
2 works. It has to be a living, flexible document. Objectives include conceptual
3 planning, law and justice programs, and high priority projects. There are problems
4 with the jail. That is a key issue associated with the plan. Minimalize capital
5 operations costs through efficient planning. In his experience, operation and
6 maintenance for the life of a facility is ten times the capital cost. They must be
7 smart in how they develop the operational costs over the life of these facilities.
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It would be a shame if all the capital money goes toward the jail at the
expense of other things that the citizens need. There are issues they need to study
to cut some capital costs, such as working with the judiciary, work release, and
video arraignment. Officers don't need to spend their time up and back. Video
visitation is another thing that has been done successfully and that cuts operating
costs and optimizes use of staff. The theme is efficient, cost - sensitive planning.
They aren't going to forget about that.
He discussed the program process. Every aspect is affected by the quality
and the nature of the available space. Too much space is bad, and too little space
is bad. The master planning issues, goals, and objectives are about how the
facilities and existing spaces are being used. He needs to study that first to make
sure they don't build things they don't need if they can create more efficiencies with
existing space. That is a part of the program. They will look at the kinds of
programs that are required and how they can best be served; how the public
service can be optimized; emerging technology, such as paperless courts; the type
of space and how it should be organized; resource capabilities, and; development
options. They will develop a plan of action that works.
A program of action is three phases. The first phase is identifying what is
required. They have to look at the existing space and problems to get a sense of
what is required. The consultants have to rely on the management team from the
County and the quality of the input. A program will be specifically tailored to
Whatcom County.
Phase two is the analysis of alternatives, facility evaluations, adjacency
requirements, development of alternative solutions, and then an evaluation by
staff. The staff has to have a major advisory role. If they feel additional locations
are required, then they need to generate some criteria that will be of use to the
County in looking at alternative locations. By the time they do review, County staff
and management will be aware of what the team is doing and the direction they will
go.
Phase three is the architect work, such as generating master plan concepts
and occupancy plans, cost estimates, and presentations on recommendations. By
the time the team makes a recommendation, the right folks in the County have
looked at the options to make sure they are comfortable with the teams
recommendations.
Committee of the Whole - afternoon, 8/13/2002, Page 2
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
Caskey- Schreiber asked if the team would also consider how to solve service
needs, such as Sheriff response teams. Falkin stated they would.
Roy asked if there are people on the team who have criminal justice
expertise who will speak with the County's criminal justice management. She
asked how that is worked out. Desler stated the team members have met already
with a larger group in the community, including mayors, law and justice officials,
and others. Part of this material was lifted out of that presentation. The team also
spent another full day of planning with the Law and Justice Council. It worked with
a lot of the professionals in the County about how they can approach future issues.
There has been a focus on law and justice systems so far, however they need to
address other things, such as Health and Human Services, Public Works, and all the
administrative operations of the County.
Roy stated she is interested in hearing options from others, not just the
County's own staff. Desler stated the administration will ask the team to develop a
vision of what the possibilities might be. It has to mesh with men and women who
work in this operation. They can find a great deal of resistance from the
independent branches of government, who may not accept it. He hopes that the
team members can move the vision forward.
Brenner stated she is nervous about the team meeting with such a closed
group. She doesn't have any confidence in the Law and Justice Council. She wants
this opened up to the public as soon as possible. She doesn't have any confidence
in this process. She asked if the team is considering, as an option, that they should
move the center of operations somewhere else. Falkin stated it would be a shame
if they had to recommend abandoning this building. The team recognizes that
money is precious. It would be easy to say they need all new buildings. However,
they will not do that. They will look hard at the existing buildings and optimize how
they are used. They may ask for organizations to be relocated for adjacencies and
efficiency purposes. He was asked to present to the Law and Justice Council, which
he did and answered their questions. He doesn't have any pre- conceived notions
from the Law and Justice Council. A team member is looking at the jail and
working with others on the team. The team has some opinions, but no one has
influenced their opinions. He may take issue with what people are telling him to
do. He hopes to gain Councilmember Brenner's confidence through the process.
Nelson stated they don't have criteria. It would be helpful for
councilmembers to have criteria on what they want to accomplish while developing
the plan. Falkin stated they have not started this project yet, but they will provide
criteria to evaluate which options are good and which are not.
Falkin stated one issue is projected population of the County. They have to
take a look at the projections. What actually happens will not be exactly what is
projected. They will look at the percentage increase of current levels of staff and
population. A question is how staff will grow, based on information they receive
from the department heads' visions of how the departments will change. The team
Committee of the Whole - afternoon, 8/13/2002, Page 3
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
will tell the department heads that they don't want to see a wish list. They want to
see a reasonable projection because there is not a lot of money, and they can't
spend the County's money on studies.
Brenner asked how they fix the problem of continued declining revenues with
providing services. She asked if the team would factor that in. Falkin stated they
would. They have to. That's why the master plan will be a living, flexible
document. Growth population estimates will tell them what the impacts will be on
requirements. The master plan solution has to have flexibility, depending on
growth rates. They will have some certainty in planning for the next four to six
years. They need to be flexible in planning for ten, twenty, and fifty years down
the road.
Desler stated the issue is not just growth. If the County has less money,
they need to do this so they don't waste money on investments, modifications,
adjustments, or repairs when they are not planning to use that space or site in the
future. Less money is precisely why they want to do this master plan. They will
involve the Council, as representatives of the people. Ultimately, in a very public
process, the people of the community will help the County make those decisions.
King stated that operational costs are ten times higher than the capital cost.
In terms of long -range projections for operational costs, they need to maintain
services. That is not architectural, but it is important to the finding. They will
definitely consider it.
Falkin stated phase two will talk about the issues of the criteria. There is an
economic component of construction, and the cost of these facilities is integral in
how they pick the best location.
King stated they are talking about absorbing a lot of simple information, and
compiling it in a complex format that is easily read. As they go through the
requirements of facility assessment and future functions, they will put together a
variety of alternatives. The alternatives will begin to bring out the language of the
criteria. The Council ultimately generates the criteria. The team will suggest topics
to be absorbed into the criteria. When the alternatives are developed, they will
evolve according to how they accommodate the criteria. Ultimately, they want to
get a few big picture plans. Through the process, it will become obvious what
direction they should take. The main purpose is to present the information in such
a way as to be readable by the people, and to enable the County to make valid
choices in a way that will affect the County for the next 50 years.
The method is to take a matrix of the alternatives and criteria. The matrix
assigns different values to how each of the alternatives respond to the various
criteria.
Nelson asked how they weighted the criteria. Hogan stated it needs to
respond to the County users. By the time they go through the facilities
Committee of the Whole - afternoon, 8/13/2002, Page 4
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
assessment, they should have a good understanding at what the criteria are. He
read some potential criteria.
Falkin stated the costs have to be as realistic as possible, based on square
footage costs, personal experience, and utility costs. This is an interactive process
with the County. They need data on what is realistic for Whatcom County.
Hogan stated this leads to a master plan that the team will develop for the
County, showing the alternatives. There will be a range of alternatives that is
diverse. The master plan is for any new facility in the County. He showed slides of
new facilities in other areas of the state and country. The master plan will go out
for fifty years. There will be a lot of options. The team will use an alternate site as
a comparison, whether or not it ever gets to that point. They need to keep an
alternate site there for an overall vision to keep in mind why they choose the
decisions they do. It is a good exercise to go through.
(Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.)
Hogan continued to state Whatcom County's solutions are unique. They
won't know what they will be until they get into the study, see what the needs are,
and see what the real options could be.
Brenner asked if the team will take into consideration infrastructure and
maintenance for new facilities. Falkin stated they have to. Otherwise it is not a
true picture.
Hogan stated that if they are doing a small Health Department facility, for
example, the impact on traffic will be negligible.
Brenner asked about the location at Smith and Northwest Roads. There is a
lot of traffic. She asked how far out would the team calculate the cost of changing
the roads.
Nelson stated it depends on where the site is.
Hogan stated they will do traffic studies for change of use. There are levels
of improvements. At this point, they don't know the true impact. In that case, it
will have an impact.
King stated a cost estimate for improvement to any facility must include
water, sewer, stormwater, mitigation, environmental, and permit costs.
Brenner asked that the team consider such things as needed traffic lights and
other things in a wide area if a function is changed in a facility that the County
already has so there is much more use. That is a concern for her. She asked how
they look at the big picture when they are talking about individual sites.
Committee of the Whole - afternoon, 8/13/2002, Page 5
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
Hogan stated they are not into a true site selection as a part of this effort.
The team can make recommendations and show a scale, but they are not doing a
site selection.
Falkin stated they have to work with the Public Works Department to get an
assessment of the traffic loads that would be anticipated. Surrounding that
roadway is zoning. Tied to that zoning is the type of facilities that could be
developed. To do this project right, they have to look at the roadways and zoning.
Nelson stated the facility would attract other development. Falkin agreed. A
location needs to be looked at in concert with what could be there, so they can
simulate the growth all around the location.
King stated they would be remiss if they didn't plan for adequate road right -
of -way to grow in the future.
Hogan stated these are concerns that the team will look at when they go
through the process. More concerns will develop.
Crawford stated one issue they have to deal with is the need for the County
to adopt the Greater Whatcom Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) as the
economic development document for the County. He asked if there would be any
problem in doing that tonight. He wanted to bring that item up, because he has to
leave the meeting soon.
Nelson stated people can get with Councilmember Crawford later.
Brenner stated she has a problem with the resolution.
Crawford asked Councilmember Brenner to get her concerns to Mr. Desler.
Brenner asked if the team would evaluate county and state roads. The
County has to get the State to do some things. King stated they have not been
hired specifically for roadway analysis. They need to look at the traffic impacts
associated with facilities as they change. They have not been commissioned to look
at state or county road systems.
Brenner stated it is a big problem when the roads don't work with the
facilities.
Desler stated the Council also decided to deliberately address the issue of
parks and trails. They will talk about how to eventually include that.
Nelson stated it is not included, but they will look at it in the future. Desler
stated it was originally part of the work plan. They are not proposing to put it back
in now.
Committee of the Whole - afternoon, 8/13/2002, Page 6
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
OTHER BUSINESS
There was no other business.
ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.
Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription
These minutes were approved by Council on October 8 , 2002.
ATTEST:
Dana Brown - Davis, Council Clerk
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON
L. Ward Nelson, Council Chair
Committee of the Whole - afternoon, 8/13/2002, Page 7