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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Finance Committee - 05/01/2025 - Finance Administration 215 N. Mason nd Floor Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6788 970.221.6782 - fax fcgov.com Council Finance Committee Hybrid Meeting CIC Room / Teams May 1, 2025 4:00 - 6:00 pm Council Attendees: Emily Francis, Kelly Ohlson, Julie Pignataro Staff: Kelly DiMartino, Tyler Marr, Teresa Roche, Carrie Daggett. Dianne Criswell, Max Valadez, Sylvia Tatman-Burruss, Ginny Sawyer, Tracy Ochsner, Drew Brooks, Joe Wimmer, Randy Bailey, Trevor Nash, Adam Halvorson, Lawrence Pollack, Monica Martinez, Victoria Shaw, Jennifer Poznanovic, Renee Reeves, Claire Turney, Jo Cech Other: Meeting called to order at 4:00 pm Approval of minutes from April 6, 2025, Council Finance Committee meeting. Motion made to approve by Kelly Ohlson and seconded by Emily Francis. Approved via roll call. A) Municipal Court Renovation & Parking Services Move Sylvia Tatman-Burrus, Sr. Project Mgr. Tracy Ochsner, Director, Facilities & Fleet Ginny Sawyer, Lead Project Mgr. Requesting $450k from Parking Services Reserve and $400k from the General Governmental Capital Expansion Fees to help fund the Parking Services move from 215 Mason to Civic Center Parking Structure. This move is necessary to make room for Municipal Court 5-year renovation at 215 Mason. Also requesting a $4.3M transfer from General Governmental Capital Expansion Fees for the construction of the 5-year Municipal Court renovation. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends all appropriations to provide funding for planned capital expenditures. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION Civic Center Planning History The Civic Center Master Plan is a dynamic document created to respond to changing conditions while providing a vision and guidelines for future buildings, renovations, and place making activity in the civic core. In 1996, City Council adopted, by Resolution 1996-86, the Civic Center Master Plan, as an amendment to the Downtown Plan, which was an element of the City’s Comprehensive Plan; the 1996 Civic Center Master Plan was prepared in cooperation with Larimer County to guide the development of a twelve- block area of downtown. In 2014, specific planning for City buildings on two blocks within the Civic Center Master Plan area was set forth in the Block 32/42 Civic Center Vision Plan. Trends Driving Municipal Court Caseloads and Service Demands The Municipal Court was housed in the County Justice Center from 2000, when the building opened, until 2007, when County space capacity demands necessitated that the Municipal Court be moved into the 215 North Mason Street building. The area of the 215 North Mason Street building in which the Court was moved was not designed or constructed for purposes of the administration and conduct of a municipal court. Therefore, the area in the 215 North Mason Street building used by the Municipal Court has had numerous retrofits over time to accommodate security, functionality, and user experience. The office space in the 215 North Mason Street building used for the Municipal Court has become increasingly inadequate to meet the demands of a growing city. Further, policy changes adopted through state and local laws since 2007 have increased caseloads and court costs. The City’s population has grown from approximately 140,000 in 2007 to 178,000 today. From 2000-2007, Municipal Court staff consisted of approximately seven (7) FTE positions. Today, staffing of the Municipal Court requires approximately thirty-one (31) FTE positions. Based on growth, customer service demands, security needs, an expansion of the Municipal Court is the most reasonable and efficient near- to long-term capital project solution. Approved Capital Improvement Plans & Funding for Municipal Court Expansion & Parking Services Relocation In 2021, Council funded an update to the 2014 Civic Center Vision Plan, called the Civic Center Master Plan (the “CCMP”), which focused planning on two blocks (rather than the twelve block area of the 1996 plan). The CCMP created a long-term plan for the future facilities and amenities as well as current buildings, including the Municipal Court. The CCMP building summary of 215 Mason noted the following, “Functionally, the building struggles to separate the higher safety risk Municipal Court customer service components from the lower risk customer service areas and internal offices.” City Council adopted the CCMP, by Resolution 2021-105, as an amendment to the 2017 Downtown Plan and the 2019 City Plan, finding that the CCMP was a capital improvements plan for purposes of general government capital expansion fee revenues for purposes of Section 7.5-31 of the City Code. In 2022, the Council appropriated $700,000, $ by adopting Ordinance No. 006, 2022 (ordinance attached), to address the initial, urgent capital needs from the increased demands on the Municipal Court. In 2023, discussions went into more depth in considering the best long-term options within the framework of the Civic Center masterplan. Options at the time included: 1. Renovating the entire first floor of 215 North Mason building to be utilized for the Municipal Court (current option allows Emergency Preparedness & Security (EPS) offices and Wellness area to remain on first floor); 2. Smaller renovations to accommodate needs in the near term while negotiating with the County to possibly return to the Justice Center; or 3. Building an entirely new building for Municipal Court. As a result of its discussions of these three options, the City Council decided Option #1 because of the immediate capacity needs of the Municipal Court as articulated at the Council Finance Committee meeting on June 6, 2024. In discussions, the cost of building a new, stand-along Muni Court was estimated to be between $25 to $30 million for Option #3, which, considering other capital projects identified in the 2019 City Plan, was cost prohibitive. Similarly, the discussions with the County for Option #2, paired with the immediate and growing needs of the Muni Court, weighed against reliance on continued discussions and negotiations about the possibility of returning to the Justice Center.”) Monies were then appropriated by Ordinance No. 005, 2023, $1,507,500 from the General Government Capital Expansion Fund for the purpose of space planning and design associated with utilizing the first floor of 215 North Mason Street building for the Municipal Court. (Ordinance attached.) Parking Services is currently located on the first floor of the 215 North Mason building. A needed first step in the plan is to move Parking Services into the Civic Center Parking Structure. This move is designed and now needs construction funding. Staff is recommending $450K from Parking Services reserves and $400K from Capital Expansion Fees be used to complete the full move. In addition, there was an approved budget offer that is providing for a gender-neutral bathroom in the new space (2024 BFO Offer 16.7). The Parking Services move not only facilitates the Municipal Court expansion but will also provide more space for staff, easy access to electric charging of vehicles in the garage, and a convenient walk-in site for customers. The City is ready to proceed with the implementation and construction of the Municipal Court construction and expansion project and is recommending that Council appropriate $4.3M from General Governmental Capital Expansion Fees for project completion. This appropriation would be in addition to the amounts previously appropriated from General Fund Reserves. CITY FINANCIAL IMPACTS Funding recommendations: • $450,000 from the Parking Services Reserve Fund for the relocation of Parking Services to the Civic Center Parking Structure (Ordinance). • $400,000 of General Government Capital Expansion Fee revenues for the relocation of Parking Services as a condition precedent to the Municipal Court construction and expansion (Ordinance). $4,3000,000 appropriation from General Governmental Capital Expansion Fee revenues for the Municipal Court construction and expansion project (Ordinance.) PUBLIC OUTREACH Public outreach has not been conducted for this phase of the project. Further phases may require public outreach and input. DISCUSSION / NEXT STEPS Kelly Ohlson; I'm assuming where Parking Services is moving is in the area that we purchased a year or two ago. Tracy Ochsner; that is correct. Yes, we are talking about the Postmodern Development suite that was just to the north of District One. Kelly Ohlson; the space that became available that we thought we could use and then we talked about we're eventually going to need it for city staff. So that's pretty a clean space. I am wondering how these things add up to so much money. It is a blank slate pretty much and Parking Services isn't as technical as some of the other things. So, how does it get to $450,000 and 400,000? Tracy Ochsner; I would categorize this as a moderate renovation. We are trying to keep as many walls as we can. We have a contractor who would be doing the work as estimated including a full design. The furniture itself is about $100,000. And then we have some IT upgrades within the space as well. But yes, it gets through all the permitting, project management and the construction that is what we're looking at is $1.13M and that's a pretty solid estimate at this point. We have even scaled that back by not doing renovations in one of the larger conference rooms or a break area. So, to answer your question, I always have sticker shock when I have these construction cost conversations. Kelly Ohlson; It is good that you have sticker shock. That makes me feel better. Tracy Ochsner; We've gone through three iterations, I mean a couple iterations of value engineering and this is. Kelly Ohlson; So then what did I miss, because I read this a few days ago and again today, I thought it was $450K + $400K. That's 850,000 and you just did a million something. Tracy Ochsner; It's on the last page, the summary (see below) Kelly Ohlson; thank you – Is the space currently vacant? Tracy Ochsner; it is vacant Kelly Ohlson; But the one says over 20 positions, for the courts and in, in the and the whatever we call it has 31. So, it's good to know that it's 31, which is quite a bit more than 20. So now, on to the Municipal Court; when it's only like whatever the number was in here for the appropriation for something $4.3, how can the design and space design change? How can it take a million and a half? I used to do this stuff. It is going to take such a large percentage of the construction cost. Tracy Ochsner; if you think back to where we were at when we appropriated $1.5 million which was for a full 15-year renovation. It was for Parking Services and EPS and was designed to move those folks and it was also for designing some of the second floor of 215 Mason to be included within this full renovation. That has been scaled back significantly. And so, while I don't want to give you a number on exactly how much we are going to have left. We will not use the full $1.5M for all of the design for this. Some of that significant amount will be returned to the capital expansion fee pot once we get the full design of the Muni Court. Again, we try to keep all of the walls we can and as much HVAC as we can within this space so that we are not impacting the area. And then in five years, we are going to put it all back trying to reuse what we are going on right now. Kelly Ohlson; so, the good news is we probably won't be spending all of that on that, guaranteed. and then on the $700,000 that we put in in 2022 and now we're going to redo it. And if even if it is, that's OK because we approved it and we needed a short-term fix set of security and those kinds of things. But is any of that kind of salvageable? Tracy Ochsner; we are moving the security portion from the north entrance to the main entrance. So that that one is kind of we're going to redo that area, the waiting rooms and the other urgent needs items. The waiting room now is going to be more of a hearing room. So, we are not going to be moving a lot of walls there either. So, to answer your question, some of it is. Kelly Ohlson; it didn't say in here, but is EPS going to stay where it is? Tracy Ochsner; we figured out from the five-year plan that we can keep EPS there and we're not touching any of the second floor. Kelly Ohlson; at the end the $4.3 million appropriation would be in addition to the amounts previously appropriated from the general fund service. Is that what we're referring to as the design and all of that or is there a total number am I missing, Am I not just adding $1.5 and $4.3? $700,000 was approved. OK, that which we have already talked about. Kelly Ohlson; I'm supportive unless I hear things that make me not support. Julie Pignataro; I had one question, and it was the first one you asked Kelly. But then it started me thinking about other things, it is those like those front facing offices that are on Mason, correct? That is the area where you're moving Parking Services? Tracy Ochsner; yes. Julie Pignataro; this is not related to this, but I am just so curious about what is going on with the stairwell in the Civic Center parking lot. Tracy Ochsner; So, it's being renovated. We have awarded a contract, and construction is anticipated to begin Mid-summer here and we are committed to having that reopened by the holiday season, so by mid-November. Julie Pignataro; And can you remind me, was it a structural failure in the stairwell, is that correct? Tracy Ochsner; it had to be totally redesigned and rebuilt. We are going in with more durable products and will also be taking care of some of the drainage issues so that the corrosive materials won't drain towards the stairwell. Julie Pignataro; I know I won't be on the Finance Committee but when we talk about the new parking structure, we will definitely have some lessons learned on this how this one was built. Tracy Ochsner; very much so, we have learned a lot of lessons. Tyler Marr; I would say that, Tracy, correct me if you disagree, I think we've learned lessons every time like Firehouse Alley is very different than the Civic Center structure because of a lot of what we're talking about and still fixing. Julie Pignataro; I have similar reactions to Kelly, just that little bit of sticker shock on what it costs. But I understand since having just done a renovation ourselves at this house. Emily Francis; My question is when the decision about the funding and whether or not we're going to do the five-year expansion or wait, was this included in that kind of overall cost or is this something we just learned? Tracy Ochsner; when we came to this committee last year, we didn't have the full costs available to us because we hadn't designed yet. So, to answer your question, no, those numbers were not available at that time. And since then, now we've had the time to design both areas. Because of the five year, we knew there was going to be some costs involved in the relocation of both of these groups. Tyler Marr; Tracy, fair to say that I don't know that we expected the cost to be in this magnitude. And because of I mean, we knew it would be sizable and probably came in a little over. Emily Francis; when this goes to the full Council, I would recommend that it's a little clearer about how much we've spent. A total for the five-year expansion for parking services. Kelly Ohlson; because over 20 is accurate, but 31 is more accurate. So, we treat these as dress rehearsals for the council work sessions or both. So not being totally critical, I just say 31 because that's a lot of people and supposed to have two different numbers, even though they're both accurate over 20 and 31. How many people are currently in Parking Services? Drew Brooks; current staffing for Parking Services is 16 positions. 2 positions are shared with Transfort.