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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 05/10/06 Workshop M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Work Shop McNutt Room—Eugene City Hall May 10, 2006 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: Jennifer Solomon, Andrea Ortiz, Bonny Bettman, David Kelly, Betty Taylor, Gary Papé, George Poling, Chris Pryor. A. WORK SHOP: City Hall Complex Strategic Issues The council was joined for the item by Thomas Hacker, Jonah Cohen, and Dana Ing Crawford of Thomas Hacker Architects, Ellen Teninty of T’N T Consultants, Galen Ohmart of Solarc, Doug Macy and Ken Pirie of Walker Macy, Dave Wilson and Rick Rehfeldt of McClaren, Wilson & Lawrie, and Kyle Brown of J. D. White Company. Police Chief Robert Lehner, and Glen Svendsen and Mike Penwell of the Facility Management Division were also present. Mr. Cohen reviewed the agenda. Ms. Crawford reviewed the space needs analysis. Mr. Papé requested a comparison of the current net square feet per employee with those of other communi- ties, including police employees. Ms. Teninty reminded the council of the work that had been done via e-mail regarding the criteria. She reviewed the criteria. Mr. Hacker introduced Mr. Ohmart, who discussed the Total Cost of Ownership Concept, which he characterized as a way to make decisions about such projects. He shared a graph showing the total cost of ownership over 50 years for a new City Hall. Mr. Kelly objected to the way salary and benefits were considered in the analysis, saying only the future difference in salary and benefits should be accounted for. Mr. Ohmart suggested that the council consider where it wished to focus its efforts and where it placed its values. For example, the council identified energy efficiency as an important criterion, and if the focus of the project design was placed on creating a space that benefited employees by making them more happy and healthy, that could increase employee productivity and reduce staff growth. Mr. Kelly said that granting Mr. Ohman’s point and estimating five percent more employee productivity in the future, that was the figure that should be accounted for as savings in the total cost of ownership. He continued to question the inclusion of total salaries and benefits in the analysis. Ms. Bettman had the same concern raised by Mr. Kelly as well as questions about the energy costs. She said the consultants showed a total amount over 50 years, but for what project? At what level was the consultant team aware of the maintenance costs, and for what type of building? Did the cost reflect if the City would be more or less energy-efficient, or if it merely carried forward what was happening now? Mr. MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 10, 2006 Page 1 Work Shop Ohmart clarified that the projections were for a baseline building of 300,000 square feet meeting current energy codes, and were order of magnitude estimates. Mr. Hacker reviewed a diagram entitled Consolidated Space Needs, which showed the existing City Hall volume, total volume needs in 2030, and other existing City Hall spaces to be consolidated. Mr. Hacker reviewed Renovation Options 1 and 2. He emphasized the high cost of building a second story onto the existing City Hall because of the changes in seismic codes. New reinforced pilings would be needed. Neither option would work for the police from a cost viewpoint, so those functions were located elsewhere. He called attention to an aerial photograph of site options in downtown and indicated that in order to approach the project as a “renovate/build new,” there must be land acquisition and/or the purchase of other building space. He pointed to the site of the existing federal courthouse and the Good Times Tavern as potential sites for acquisition. Mr. Hacker reviewed a series of hybrid options, which involved saving part of the existing building and adding on to the building. Councilors asked questions clarifying the details of the options. Mr. Hacker reviewed the new construction options. Councilors asked questions clarifying the details of the options. Ms. Crawford distributed cost models for all the options. Mr. Hacker emphasized the numbers should not be used to establish a project budget; the information was provided as a way to understand the costs of each option, relative to each other. Everything was estimated using 2006 dollars, and there was no escalation built in. He introduced cost consultant Steve Gunn, who was present in the audience to answer questions. Mr. Hacker briefly reviewed the cost models. Ms. Teninty solicited questions and comments. Mr. Kelly did not think that Hybrid 2 was worth bothering with, given that only the Council Chamber was proposed to be saved. He thought Hybrid 1 had some intriguing possibilities. He also liked having a dollar amount attached to the complete renovation as well as the additional space shown. He said that Renovation Option 1 was costly but not dramatically higher in cost than the other options. At this point, he considered all the options other than Hybrid 2 to be “in play.” Mr. Poling thought the council had some good options to consider and he wanted to hear what the public had to say. Mayor Piercy wanted to know what different segments of the community thought were the most important and desirable things about a city hall. Mr. Papé asked if any of the models were more energy-efficient than the others, and if that could be included in the matrix. Members of the consultant team indicated that could happen. Ms. Taylor suggested that human energy could contribute to lower health costs if people had to walk more to get from place to place. She emphasized the need to keep storm water concerns in mind. MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 10, 2006 Page 2 Work Shop At the request of Ms. Taylor, Ms. Teninty overviewed the upcoming public events related to the subject of a new city hall. Referring to the evaluation criteria, Ms. Bettman said that values about the city building up and more densely were not reflected in the criteria and they should also be considered by the public as they were just as quantifiable as the other criteria. Ms. Bettman expressed appreciation for the hybrids developed by the consultant team and said she continued to support the B options. In terms of the existing City Hall, she was not motivated to preserve the existing building. She did not believe the case had been made for its preservation. She wanted the Mayor and City Council space combined in the public space, and that seemed more problematic in the renovation models. However, she looked forward to hearing what the public had to say. Mr. Kelly expressed appreciation for Ms. Bettman’s remarks about other values. He suggested that another criterion could be consistency with existing City policies and values. Mr. Kelly requested information for the June 13 meeting regarding the renovation expense and how much of that cost was due to seismic codes or a change in building codes. He said that knowing how far the consultants were going with regard to energy efficiency in those options would also be useful. Mr. Kelly reiterated his interest in seeing information about salaries and benefits that showed the difference in expected costs rather than the total costs. Mayor Piercy hoped the council did not lose focus on downtown as everyone’s downtown, not just an area associated with the downtown residents and Downtown Eugene, Inc. Mr. Papé said the council was supposed to have a discussion about Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) buildings, and he believed that issue dovetailed with the issue before the council. He asked City Manager Dennis Taylor to schedule the work session on LEED buildings sooner than later. Responding to a question from Mr. Solomon about whether a half block would accommodate a new building, Mr. Hacker suggested that the council should look at several different approaches. The site selection option that would be discussed later involved some half-block sites, one of which the City owned, and the City’s interest in the value of the existing site was also a consideration. He thought the consultant team needed to show that option in more than one configuration. Ms. Teninty solicited ideas for the public forum and questions to be asked. She asked that any suggestions be forwarded by Monday. Mr. Kelly thought the consultant team’s presentation would inform the public discussion. He wanted a broad sense of what the public thought about the current City Hall at both the practical and emotional level. Ms. Teninty said the consultant team had been asking that question throughout the public input process. Mayor Piercy wanted to make sure that those who represented special interests were invited to the forums to come and share what was “make or break” for them. Mayor Piercy suggested that the consultant team contact the councilors individually so they could provide the names of people they wanted to make sure the consultant team interviewed. MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 10, 2006 Page 3 Work Shop Mr. Poling asked if the consultant team was talking to the employees who would work in the buildings. Ms. Teninty said direct communication had been established and she was working on further communication approaches. She wanted to do more in that area. Ms. Taylor thought it very important for the public to have honest information, and she did not think it fair to discuss the current cost of heating City Hall because renovations that might have mitigated those costs had been postponed. She also called statements about earthquakes “scare tactics.” Ms. Taylor agreed with the Mayor that Downtown Eugene, Inc. and downtown residents had no more to do with downtown than residents who lived outside the downtown in other places. Ms. Taylor encouraged the consultant team to make a presentation on the subject before the City Club. Mr. Kelly raised for future discussion Ms. Taylor’s remarks about earthquakes as a scare tactic. He understood in a moderate earthquake, the building would fall down. He said seismic renovation was incorporated into the options that use the current building. Ms. Solomon left the meeting. Ms. Bettman asked if participants at the public forums would be asked to vote on the options. She did not favor that approach, and expressed concerns about giving people the opportunity to vote at all, which could set up some expectation that the council would follow the vote in its decision-making. She said the public process needed to be clear that the forums would provide feedback for the council to consider when making its decisions. Ms. Teninty acknowledged the point, and said the consultant team had made it clear about the nature of the input and what it would be used for. The meeting adjourned at 2 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dennis M. Taylor City Manager (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 10, 2006 Page 4 Work Shop