CC Minutes - 05/11/09 Work Session

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Responding to a question from Ms. Taylor, Ms. Hammitt indicated that $22 million was available in the Facility Reserve. Ms. Taylor thought take -home police cars a better solution than a new police facility. She thought that deserved further investigation. Ms. Taylor believed any new police facility should be located downtown. She had reviewed the motion the council had passed that provided direction to staff, and it directed staff to find a downtown location for the police facility but staff had returned with a location outside of downtown. Ms. Taylor asked the cost of a police substation. Mr. Penwell said that staff had not programmed out those exact costs given the unknowns of whether the facility would be owned or leased. Ms. Taylor said she had visited the location of the proposed police facility and suggested it was easier to walk into the police station downtown than it would be at the Country Club location. There was no guarantee that a Breeze bus would continue to operate. Ms. Taylor said if the council decided to move forward, she hoped that there was a public vote on the proposal. Ms. Taylor asked if the City would have to demolish the existing City Hall if it was considered to be unsafe. She did not think that made sense. She thought the City needed to do the basic seismic retrofit of City Hall whether it used the building or someone else used it. Ms. Taylor did not think a civic center could be achieved by decentralization, which was what she considered the proposal. Ms. Ortiz asked if the City was still collecting money from the departments for the Facility Reserve. City Manager Ruiz said the transfer would not occur in fiscal year 2010. He believed that the City Council would need to determine how to replenish those dollars in the future to keep the fund sustainable. Ms. Ortiz endorsed staff's incremental approach. She indicated she liked the idea of having the police separate from City Hall. She did not object to demolishing the building, and suggested the potential of doing so and making the site a downtown park until it could be sold. Ms. Ortiz was not happy about the concept of a police facility not in downtown. Many constituents had contacted her about the loss of foot traffic that patronized local businesses. She was cognizant of that concern, but also was also committed to doing what she could in regard to replacing those jobs and encouraging residents to visit downtown. She believed that examination of the parking issue was part of that effort. Mr. Brown believed that a new police facility was a low public priority because it had been voted down three times. However, he thought that public safety improvements were a high priority for voters. The public wanted more police and more jail beds. He thought the council and staff needed to spend more time figuring out reliable ways to fund public safety, even if it was incremental and involved hiring only four new officers each year. He suggested the Facilities Reserve could be used as a trust fund to hire new officers as had been proposed at the Budget Committee. He also thought the City needed to ensure all its buildings were safe for staff and visitors. He thought the City was just beginning to explore the options and there were more options to consider beyond what was before the council. His worst fear was that adoption of the staff recommendation could be divisive in the community and there could be a public backlash. If the funding was used as proposed, nothing was left in the Facility Reserve for seismic upgrades for two fire stations, the airport main terminal building, or any other first responder site. MINUTES —City Council May 11, 2009 Page 8 Work Session