RED
BLUFF
CITY
COUNCIL
SPECIAL MEETING
MINUTES
DATE OF
MEETING:
September 27, 2004
TIME OF
MEETING:
2:30 P.M.
PLACE OF
MEETING: RED
BLUFF COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL
Councilmembers Present: Forrest
Flynn, Mayor
Larry Stevens Mayor Pro Tem
Andy Houghton
Russ Frey
Gregg Avilla
Councilmembers Absent:
NONE
Staff
Present: Susan
Price, City Manager
Richard Crabtree, City Attorney
Charlie Mullen, Planning Director
Cheryl Smith, Deputy City Clerk
CLOSED
SESSION:
1. CONFERENCE WITH
LEGAL COUNSEL – ANTICIPATED LITIGATION: One potential
case.
Mayor Flynn announced that the
City Council during the Closed Session had decided to retain Mike Shepherd,
Attorney at Law, to prosecute in a personnel hearing.
At 3:02 p.m. Mayor Flynn called
the Special Meeting to order.
CITIZEN
COMMENTS:
There were no citizen
comments.
CURRENT
BUSINESS:
1. POLICE FACILITY FEASIBILITY
STUDY
Susan Price, City Manager, introduced Nick Ambrosia of Thomson &
Hendricks.
Mr. Ambrosia reviewed the
Police Facility Feasibility Study.
Some of the items that currently are not available at the current site
are fenced parking for patrol vehicles as well as employee vehicles; bullet
proof glass in the front office; women’s locker facilities; refrigerated storage
for DNA as mandated by state Department of Justice; storage for evidence. They have tried to plan for the next 20
years and feel that 20,000-21,000 sq. ft. would serve the needs of the City and
allow for future expansion. Eight
sites met the criteria set for the facility and of these the old Kmart building
appeared to be the best fit that would allow for future growth. Option A, which is the cheapest, would
keep the current existing Kmart building and remodel. Option B would be to destroy the
existing building and rebuild on that site. The study is proposing 524 sq. ft. per
employee.
City Manager Susan Price
stated that a great deal of time was spent on what kinds of things should be at
the facility and what type of space would be needed.
Mayor Pro Tem Larry
Stevens questioned if when deciding on the old Kmart building was consideration
given to the relocation of City Hall offices and City Council Chambers from the
congested area of downtown, to have a City Services Center, similar to what
Redding did.
Mr. Ambrosia stated that
it was considered under Option B.
The rebuild could allow for additional City offices be located in the
same building, similar to the One Stop Services that the County of Tehama has
planned for the old Montgomery Ward building.
Mayor Flynn stated that
the old Kmart building is approximately 27 years old and wondered if it would be
a liability rather than an asset to try and renovate it.
Mr. Ambrosia stated that
they have looked at the building and it is steel framed building, with masonry
walls, which are holding up quite well.
There is some ground water coming up through the asbestos tiles, which
would have to be abated and they have not looked at the roof, but would assume
that it needs a new roof. Even with
this he did not feel this would be a liability to the City.
Mayor Pro Tem Stevens
would like to see some shade areas brought in and areas in and around the front
area that would be warmer to the public, as well as the employees who are
working there.
Mr. Ambrosia stated that
they had allowed 9000 sq. ft. for landscaping needs. The estimated land cost would be $50/sq.
ft. of the Kmart building and the estimated construction cost would be $300/sq.
ft. It would most likely take
five (5) years to get the funding needed for the project.
Option
A
-- $15,117,000 – Which would remodel about 8,000 sq. ft and the rest of the
Kmart building would be readied for future usage. There would also be a 12,000 sq. ft. new
building to the front of the building.
Option B -- $15,800,000 – Removal
of the old Kmart building and then constructing an entirely new building.
Councilmember Houghton
questioned if vehicles would be parked inside of the Kmart
building.
Mr. Ambrosia stated that
there are currently four (4) lifts that could be used for maintenance of the
patrol vehicles and the remainder for impounded vehicles.
Councilmember Houghton
stated that if the Kmart building were remodeled there would still be room for
future expansion in the front.
Mr. Ambrosia stated that
was correct and that the building is not that bad of a building once it got
cleaned up and painted.
City Manager Susan Price
stated that the Kmart building would leave a lot of room for future
expansion. Looking at this in
phases, Phase 1 is to get the Police into a new facility; Phase 2 would be able
to have City Hall begin to move down and look at the Fire Department expansion,
which is phase 3.
Mayor Pro Tem Stevens
wants to make sure that the City is adequately prepared and that adequate
parking is provided.
Ms. Price stated that
parking was one of the issues that she has had and agrees with Mayor Pro Tem
Stevens that the most important thing is to have the department accessible. The County of Tehama did look at this
building prior to purchasing the Wards building and it doesn’t appear that what
exists there would limit what the City wants to do there. The other aspect of this is the
financing and what she would like to do is come back with some financing
discussions and options. Some of
which are loan funding from Rural Development, Certificates of Participation and
there are Bonds, which are paid back by property owners.
Mayor Pro Tem Stevens
questioned is there was a way to shorten the 5-year
period.
Ms. Price stated that if
the City Council thought this property was appropriate then we would talk about
securing the property.
Mayor Pro Tem Stevens
stated that as the boundaries of the City grows the Police and Fire services
will have to be able to get around and there are problems with the railroad
crossing at the south end of town, but this gives accessibility from the
freeway.
Ms. Price stated that
Mayor Pro Tem Stevens had a good point; the next step would be to discuss the
financing mechanisms.
Councilmember Frey stated
that he felt the City Council should wait until after the November elections and
that he felt that Option A is the way to proceed.
Ms. Price stated that
after the elections there could be very focused discussions on
funding.
Councilmember Houghton
questioned the amount of obligation the City would be
under.
Ms. Price stated that she
had spoken to Rural Development and as an estimate a 40-year loan at an interest
rate of 4.75% on $10,000,000 the annual payment would be approximately $583,000
per year, which is why the City needs to look at other options for funding.
Mr. Ambrosia stated that
one thing that might address some of the issues was if the City could obtain
funding by a block grant for programming now, before the design can start there
needs to be a program for the new facility.
Councilmember Frey stated
that he concurred with Councilmember Stevens and would like to see this really
well thought out, so that we proceed with this with the future in
mind.
Mayor Pro Tem Stevens
stated that the City will see more and more annexations and growth and we need
to be prepared for those needs now.
Mr. Ambrosia stated that
the key to making a successful project is the programming and projects that
succeed the most are the ones that are thought out and
planned.
Councilmember Houghton
stated that he agreed with the project as something that needs to be done, but
it’s still a lot of money. There
are two tax measures on the ballot and we talk about the state taking money from
us and here we are talking about building a $15 million Police
Station.
Ms. Price stated that the
Redevelopment Study will be brought to the City Council and that this building
is in one of the blighted areas.
This is a process that will not be done overnight, but we want to end up
with something. There is Homeland
Security money and there are multiple funding resources that will need to be
looked at. Also if Measures A &
B pass some of that money will be available.
Councilmember Avilla
stated that the City needs to move forward because what we have now is
inadequate. But we want to build a
nice facility, not one that falls apart in 10-years.
Mayor Pro Tem Stevens
stated that as with any governmental building it needs to look nice and that he
would like to see the new Police facility called a Law Enforcement Center
instead of a Police Station. It’s a
first phase of governmental services where people can take care of a lot of
business that they need to get done.
JD Ellison Jr., Building
Official/Director, questioned if there had been any other interest in the old
Kmart building.
Ms. Price stated that she
did not know what the demand for that building is going to be, although up to
this time there has not been any demand for the building. If it is felt that this is the right
place we need to secure the building, prior to the price going
up.
Mr. Ellison stated that
with the addition of Auto Zone and two other anchor buildings in front of True
Value across the street the value of the property will increase and people might
show more interest as the improvements occur.
Mr. Ambrosia stated that
the owner of the Kmart building did contact him on the City’s interest in the
building, as he had heard of today’s meeting. I recommended that he contact the City
Manager directly.
M/S/C Stevens, Avilla to
accept the Police Facility Feasibility Study.
AYES:
Councilmembers: Avilla,
Flynn, Frey, Houghton and Stevens
NOES: None
ABSENT OR NOT
VOTING: None
Councilmember Avilla
stated that for the meeting of September 30, 2004 he would not be able to attend
the entire meeting as he had a prior commitment at 6:00
p.m.
ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further
business Mayor Flynn adjourned the meeting at 4:08 p.m. to Thursday, September
30, 2004 at 5:30 p.m., Red
Bluff City Council Chambers.
s/b Forrest Flynn
ATTEST:
Mayor
City Clerk