City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, MAYOR HON. BRADFORD C. ELLIS, VICE -MAYOR, WARD ONE CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. MATTHEW J. KELLY, AT-LARGE HON. GEORGE C. SOLLEY, WARD TWO HON. FREDERIC N. HOWE, III, WARD THREE Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. BEATRICE R. PAOLUCCI, WARD FOUR Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Council Work Session July 10, 2012 Tour of Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Courthouse Project The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, July 10, 2012, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the Juvenile Domestic Relations Courthouse, 601 Caroline Street and then moved to the Suite at City Hall, 715 Princess Anne Street. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor Bradford C Ellis. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Frederic N. Howe, III, Matthew J. Kelly, Beatrice R. Paolucci and George C. Solley. Also Present. City Manager Beverly R. Cameron, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Robert Antozzi, Director of Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities, Sheriff Paul Higgs, Budget Manager Amanda Lickey, Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge David Peterson, Construction Manager Bill Downey of Downey and Scott, Allen Hamlin from the Design Build Team of English Construction. Juvenile and Domestic Relation Court Tour. Judge Peterson and Sheriff Paul Higgs led City Council on a short tour of their interim facility. They demonstrated the metal detector and the x-ray machine and they discussed the many other new features. The interim facility has four holding cells, a finger printing room and two interview rooms. Judge Peterson stated that the two interview rooms would work on an interim period, but they would need at least four. The courtroom itself was more spacious than the old space. The judge’s bench and the clerk’s desk are much more efficient because they each have more room. There 1 are now three separate entrances to the courtroom one for the judge, one for the public and one for the inmates. The clerk also added that the office space was small but efficient and she said she finally had her own office. Judge Peterson said he is without a conference room which makes it difficult to meet with attorney’s and truancy officers, but he could deal with it on an interim period. He said JDR has never had a permanent home this is the fourth interim court space. Courthouse Project. Mayor Greenlaw reconvened the work session at 6:30 p.m. in the Suite. Councilors Greenlaw, Ellis, Devine, Howe, Kelly, Paolucci and Solley were in attendance. City Manager Cameron stated that there were four court related issues that needed council action. One decision needed to be decided on by August 1 the other three could be decided on in early fall. The first of the four decisions are whether the second General District Court (GDC) Room be finished or left as a warm lit shell. This decision should be made by August 1 and considered at the August 24 work session. The second decision is on the existing GDC, should there be a major or minor renovation. This decision can be made at a work session in early September. The third decision is on the Renwick Building, what is the preferred reuse of the building. This could be discussed at a work session on October 9. Finally, the last issue was Council’s desired course of action on downtown parking. Mr. Cameron said this could be a part of discussions at the planning retreat in October. City Attorney Dooley agreed with Mr. Cameron that a decision had to be made on whether Council wanted to leave the second courtroom as a shell or finish the space. She said they were at the 35% review of the design development documents and the comments were due back to First Choice on or before August 1. Councilor Ellis suggested that the Council should have regular updates from the Project Manager (PM) so that they can understand and address issues as they arise. He felt it would be beneficial to have and to continue as the building is under construction. Councilor Solley disagreed stating that the PM should brief the CEO or Manager and the Manager would brief the Council. He stated that he doesn’t want to see Council getting to the point of micro- managing the project and he said Council does not have the experience to make changes. He felt all of Council’s decisions could be made now and allow the City staff to manage the project. 2  Councilor Kelly stated that on other projects such as the trails the Council had the opportunity to comment on the design as they went through. He said Council had that opportunity on all projects. He was concerned that the only document he had on the project were very basic plans and he did not feel comfortable making decisions based on that. He also stated that he still had questions that were left unanswered from the previous work session on courts and he would like those answered. Mayor Greenlaw asked the City Manager and the Project Manager Bill Downey what they felt would be the appropriate level of reporting out to Council. Mr. Cameron said all the design work done on the project has expanded to the schematic design that was presented in the First Choice PPEA proposal that was adopted by Council as a part of the Comprehensive Agreement. The 35% design development drawings are just an advancement of the work on a more detailed level to completion. He said this is what will happen throughout the process at 65%, 95% and to final construction documents that will be taken into the field to build the project. He said the concepts are the same terms that Council has seen and talked about up to this point. Mr. Cameron stated that he did not understanding the reasoning for wanting to revisit the fundamental aspects of the project. Councilor Ellis stated that if Council could not be briefed at the 35%, 65%, and 95% then they may never know what issues come up and they can’t discuss or talk about the project intelligently. He feels as the decision makers they should be briefed so that if something cames up Council could take care of it. Councilor Solley said he feels that those decisions were the City Manager’s job. Councilor Howe stated that all the issues needed to be discussed especially the staffing and operation and management cost. He said these are business decisions that need to be made before going down this path. Councilor Devine said if there are questions on the design along the way it is appropriate to have those discussions but she felt as though personnel issues are the purview of the City Manager and she did not want to discuss staff issues with design issues. Councilor Paolucci said she does not want to get into staffing issues either, but the bases for building the courthouse is to address security needs and if the city is not going to be able to insure the security needs than it needs to be discussed. She also explained that this was the opportunity for Council to look at the plans to possibly modify it to save money to put towards the Renwick building. 3  Mr. Downey added that he has the most qualified person on his staff working with City staff to determine staffing needs. He will be working on at least a 30 year life cycle analysis. He will be looking at the Renwick Building, the General District Court, the Executive Plaza and the new court facility. This analysis will include what the projected operating and maintenance cost would be. He said they are in the information gathering process and he said it takes a little while to gather the information. Mr. Downey said that he has worked on 30 courts between Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia and he said there are courtrooms that he would consider small, moderate and large and the City’s courtrooms would be considered moderate and the support areas are not extravagant or large. He said he met weekly with the design team and he reports issues to the Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities Director Antozzi and City Manager Cameron. Mr. Downey also agreed to meet with Council as there are milestones in the project or whenever Council wishes. Mayor Greenlaw suggested that Council reconvene after the regular session meeting to review the 35% plans. Councilor Kelly asked if his questions could be answered on the cost savings before he is asked to make any decisions. He also had concerns with the project fitting on the property. He suggested looking at additional modifications such as shortening the ceilings so that the project would not have to have so many special use permits and special exceptions. The Mayor re-convened the work session at 9:50 p.m. in the Suite. Councilors Greenlaw, Ellis, Devine, Howe, Kelly and Paolucci were in attendance. Bill Downey of Downey & Scott presented the 35% design development plans for the new courthouse facility in an informal session. Council members discussed the proposed ceiling height of 14 feet and whether it could be reduced to 12 feet, the proposed building height, and various office spaces that could be left unfinished as a cost saving measure. Councilors requested additional information on these items for their consideration on July 24. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, Mayor Greenlaw declared the work session officially adjourned at 10:30 p.m. Tonya B. Lacey Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 4