Laserfiche WebLink
2010 was about 70,000 square feet, twice the amount of space occupied by the police in City Hall. He indicated <br />that accounted for a modest increase in staff predicated on past staffing studies. He confirmed, in response to a <br />question from Mr. Brown, that those studies included the Magellan report, which did not speak to the square <br />footage needed by the department. The report's staffing analysis was translated into square footage through a <br />space needs analysis accomplished through the city hall master planning process. <br />Mr. Brown requested a copy of the recent seismic analysis of the Country Club Road property. <br />Mr. Brown expressed concern that the City did not have funding to hire the officers needed to fill the space on <br />Country Club Road, even to a basic service level. The City would have to hire 71 new officers to get to a basic <br />service level, but the recommendation did not provide for that. Mr. Brown said the recommendation would result <br />in the expenditure of the Facility Reserve and the City would have "nothing to play around with" to hire new <br />police or open new jail beds. He believed all councilors were interested in achieving a `typical' community <br />policing service level, which would require 186 new hires. Mr. Brown believed that the City should first hire <br />more officers and then secure a building. <br />Mr. Pryor said it was important to be thoughtful and deliberate, particularly when considering deviating from the <br />master planning process. However, when opportunities presented themselves, particularly if they accomplished <br />certain goals, they needed to be considered. Since the City only could spend the Facility Reserve once, the council <br />needed to proceed carefully. He pointed out the council could not use the Facility Reserve to hire police because it <br />was one time money and should not be used for an ongoing expense. <br />Mr. Pryor suggested that regardless of the police facility's location, the distribution of police officers would be the <br />same. For that reason, he was less concerned about the effect of the location on police operations than about <br />whether the building was a good investment for the use of the City's one -time moneys. <br />Mr. Pryor said he was interested in the EWEB site, but was unsure that could happen. He was also interested in <br />the civic center concept. He wanted to explore the available options in a thoughtful and deliberate way. <br />Mr. Zelenka recalled that he had initially favored using managing the Facility Reserve in a way that allowed the <br />City to hire new police officers in a way that avoided the one -time money issue but that had not been well- received <br />by the council. <br />Mr. Zelenka believed that City government was already very decentralized, and pointed out that less than 20 <br />percent of City staff worked in City Hall. He had considered the City Hall master planning process to be a <br />consolidation process, which made sense but cost a lot of money. He did not think the current discussion was <br />about the police or the police facility, but about City Hall. The biggest tenant of the building was the police, so <br />that department's needs had to be taken into account. <br />Mr. Zelenka saw two options for the organization: stay in City Hall or move. He said the council needed to decide <br />if City Hall was worth investing in, and if it met the organization's needs. He noted that the building was built in <br />1964. It had seismic issues and HVAC issues and the space was inadequate. He said that renovating the building <br />would still result in a space not adequate for the organization. He questioned where the money for such a <br />renovation would come from. He was skeptical that it made sense to stay in the building. However, Mr. Zelenka <br />hoped the building would be painted soon because he anticipated the organization would be housed there for a <br />while regardless. <br />Mr. Zelenka was intrigued by the City Hall campus idea. <br />MINUTES --City Council May 11, 2009 Page 7 <br />Work Session <br />