PROJECT: Facility Master Plan
LOCATION: Ashland, Oregon
REPORT NO. 16
JOB NO. 0752
DATE: 5 June 2008
UNLESS WRITTEN OBJECTION IS RECEIVED WITHIN SEVEN DAYS, WE ASSUME THE STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE ACCEPTED
PRESENT: Broomfield, Morrison, Shostrom, Olson, Seltzer, Mackin, Hardesty, Ogden, Tuneberg
I. PURPOSE OF MEETING: Master Plan review and direction
II. GENERAL DISCUSSION
A. Broomfield asked if items such as the ADA compliance regulations that were defined in the previous report have been taken into consideration in these costs. Ogden said they had.
B. Ogden presented concept options.
1. Option One
a. Reuse and remodel of existing city facilities, no new buildings along with potential costs.
b. Finance relocation: Ogden said in order for option one to be facilitated, some department would need to vacate the existing facilities in order to provide the necessary “elbow room” for reconfiguration. Finance is the only department that expressed willingness and ability to function outside of the downtown core. In general the committee agreed this could be possible.
1) Tuneberg stated for the most part moving to the Grove would be a beneficial move. Most of his staff support this concept. Parking is plentiful and access for the public is easier in this location. Other city staff should not have difficulty with communications or interface with the finance department.
2) Tuneberg also stated there may be more difficulty in communicating with the administration as it has been in the past, however, this should be able to be resolved easily.
3) Communications with City Recorder for checks and financial communication can be resolved with new banking options.
2. Option two
a. Similar to option one but with some new construction
3. Option three
a. New construction
4. New discussion
a. Broomfield suggested a new consideration for a building above Calle Guanajuato with an elevator and exterior walk that would also provide much needed ADA access to the upper level of many of the existing plaza businesses. He said there could possibly be a LID for the elevator and the walkway.
5. Shostrom expressed concern about obscuring natural light to the area. Plazas and opening could be integrated into the concept to help maintain this feeling.
6. Ogden reviewed overall cost estimates for each of these options. It was noted that the price for new buildings might actually be more affordable than for individual improvements to each of the existing departments due to the ability to construct everything at once. Doing work over time would be subject to inflation costs. Ogden presented the inflation matrix.
a. Hardesty expressed concern about the many requests for money being made to the citizens.
C. Macken stated the report contains the information required to make educated decisions about department remodels, the committee should not necessarily make the decision as to which avenue should be pursued at this point in time. This is an activity more appropriate for the City Council.
D. The committee suggested creating a list of the immediate security, ADA and meeting space needs that should be implemented prior to any major construction relocation projects.
E. Ogden stated the final report will have a section specifically addressing the 5, 10 and 20 year growth expectations. Ogden explained this information may be skewed because of the budget difficulties the City is currently experiencing. The questionnaires and interviews with the Department Heads extracted information with this mind set and may not necessarily reflect the kind of growth generally associated with a stronger economy (much like that of a few years ago). The report however, can only be based on information received. Most departments are in a declining mode, this however, does not reduce or eliminate the need for security, office efficiency organization or meeting spaces which seem to be the most pressing matters.
F. Fire Department # 2.
1. Based on additional input from the community open houses, Ogden stated an option should be considered to build out fire station number two in two phases, this might ease the financial burden a bit and provide a better facility than what is currently existing.
G. Report considerations
1. The committee suggested creating a pros and cons list for the various options.
2. The land inventory should note which properties could be potentially liquidated to provide some additional revenue to offset some of the expenses associated with implementing this plan.
3. The Croman property plan is suggesting the ODOT property be acquired by the City, possibly with a land swap. Ogden should discuss this with Molnar.
4. Seltzer stated the current budgets and capital improvement plan has placeholders for some of these projects that have been waiting for this report to be completed to define when and how much work needs to be done.
Next meeting date: Thursday, June 19.
