To: Board of Supervisors
From: County Administrative Office
Agenda Section: Consent
SUBJECT:
title
Bid Authorization for the Construction of the Courthouse Fifth Floor Remodel Project; County Project Number 2018-102
end
RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Receive and approve the plans and specifications for the Construction of the Courthouse Fifth Floor Remodel Project; and
2. Authorize the Clerk of the Board to advertise the above-referenced project, pursuant to Section 22037 of the California Public Contract Code, with bids to be open on August 6, 2019.
Body
SOURCE OF FUNDING:
General Fund
DISCUSSION:
On January 19, 2016, your Board approved the 2016 Finance Plan which allocated $900,000 towards the remodel of approximately 3,950 sq. ft. of unoccupied space on the fifth floor of the Courthouse and re-locate two of the District Attorney (DA) programs, Child Abuse Services Team (CAST) and Victim Witness (VW) to the newly renovated space. The colocation of these programs in close proximity to the DA’s office, located on the fourth floor, will help ensure greater efficiencies within the department as well as provide staff and the vulnerable populations that utilize the program’s services with the added security of being located within the Courthouse.
The current program location for CAST is less than ideal as the CAST program is currently located in the same building as the Public Defender’s office at 1001 4th Street, Eureka, which places victims and accused perpetrators in close proximity to each other.
The current CAST office has known American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) access barriers and was one of the facilities listed in the 2016 Consent Decree with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). These accessibility barriers will require a large financial investment to remediate and currently remain due in part to plans to relocate the program to the fully accessible remodeled space in the Courthouse.
VW is currently located at a leased facility located at 712 4th Street, Eureka. Its lease will expire on July 31, 2019 with no remaining options to extend. This facility is listed in the DOJ Consent Decree as well. To date, all ADA Consent Decree barriers listed in the Consent Decree have been remediated. However, accessibility barriers identified in the full facility assessment remain. The county no longer enters into new leases for facilities that are not fully ADA accessible. Therefore, a new lease at the 712 4th Street location is not recommended. On June 18, 2019, your Board directed staff to enter into a month to month agreement with the property owner until the construction is complete for the Courthouse Fifth Floor Remodel Project.
On November 1, 2018, the County of Humboldt entered into a consultant services agreement with Nichols, Melburg & Rossetto, AIA & Associates, Inc. (NMR) to design plans and specifications for the construction of the Courthouse Fifth Floor Remodel Project. The construction project will completely renovate the unoccupied space on the south side of the fifth floor in the Courthouse making space for offices, a conference room, an interview room and administrative spaces that will house approximately fourteen staff members and provide a streamlined singular location for the services offered by CAST and VW. Work will consist of demolishing the existing interior walls and removing and replacing existing mechanical equipment currently housed in the fifth floor mechanical rooms and placing new equipment on the roof of the Courthouse. A new roof will be placed on the west hip of the fifth floor roof prior to installation of the new mechanical equipment.
Working in conjunction with NMR, staff determined that the existing mechanical equipment located in the fan rooms adjacent to the proposed project location occupied valuable square footage and the equipment would need to be replaced and relocated to the roof in order to meet the program space needs requirements. The mechanical equipment is original to the building and has been in near constant operation for well over sixty years. Much of this equipment has suffered from extreme deterioration from rust and corrosion and is technologically antiquated and plagued with recurring mechanical failures. The new mechanical equipment will improve the air distribution in the Courthouse and is sized for the current building demand. The new mechanical equipment will use current state of the art technology and will meet the ridged mandates set forth in current California state energy efficiency standards and thereby saving the county money over the course of their lifespans in operational and maintenance expenses.
There are three mechanical rooms on the fifth floor that ventilate Unit A of the Courthouse. In conjunction with mechanical engineers from NMR, staff determined that this project should include all of the mechanical equipment located in the three fan rooms on the fifth floor in lieu of just replacing and relocating the equipment necessary to make sufficient space for the CAST and VW program needs. The existing equipment operates as one single system and making changes to any singular component would create balancing issues with the remaining components and thereby creating unpleasant building ventilation conditions. It was determined that this project would require the removal and replacement of all of the equipment on the fifth floor as part of one single project to maintain proper ventilation in the Courthouse. Fan Room One will be repurposed as office space for the project interior remodel whereas Fan Rooms Two and Three will have the equipment removed but will be left vacant at the completion of the project.
In addition, staff determined that relocating the new mechanical equipment would require the existing roof membrane be replaced prior to equipment installation as it had exceeded its anticipated life expectancy and has numerous places that are plagued with chronic leaks, one of which is over the county radio room responsible for both Sheriff’s and Public Works emergency radio communications. Replacing the roofing membrane as part of this project is advisable and recommended as postponing this task and completing the work under a future project would require the newly installed mechanical equipment be disconnected, removed and reset using a crane so a new roofing membrane could be installed adding significant cost increases and potential for mechanical system downtime.
On November 13, 2018, your Board authorized a one-time expenditure of $1,700,000 to complete the remodel of the fifth floor of the Courthouse to allow CAST and VW to move into an ADA compliant space.
On March 5, 2019, your Board adopted the 2019-2020 Strategic Framework Update. This project meets 2019-2020 Strategic Framework goals, strategies and objectives, as one of the 2019-2020 goals is to “Reduce adverse childhood experiences (ACES), improve implementation of trauma informed cared practices,” and section 1.3.F lists the strategy to “streamline services to reduce further trauma to youth” with the objective (Performance Measure) to “Centralize the District Attorney’s Victim Witness and Child Abuse Services Team on the fifth floor of the Courthouse”.
Staff consulted with Public Works, County Information Technology (IT) Department, the DA’s Office, and NMR in the review and development of the project’s plans, specifications and timeline. The construction schedule is expected to be 200 calendar days and contract award is anticipated to occur on August 27, 2019. The construction phase is projected to be complete by March 31, 2020. Much of the work will be scheduled to occur outside of standard county business hours. However, work that does not generate transferrable sound will be permitted during county business hours. The contractor will be given two locations on the Courthouse parcel to use for construction laydown yards, administrative spaces and equipment staging areas, which will include the former sally port in the Courthouse basement as well as the grassy lawn adjacent to the Fourth Street entrance. Both areas will be fully fenced off throughout the construction phase.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Engineer’s estimates for the construction of the Courthouse Fifth Floor Remodel Project are currently $1,939,343. This combined with current project expenses establishes an estimated project budget for the design and construction at $2,142,163. The county anticipates a cost share contribution from California Superior Courts for project related work on the building shared spaces, roofing, and mechanical systems. However, an exact projected cost share dollar figure will not be known until the project has bid and actual construction costs are known. The project budget and engineer’s estimate is derived using the following estimated values:
Task: Estimated Cost:
Project Design and Construction Oversite $202,820
Roof Membrane Replacement $199,500
Mechanical Equipment Upgrade and Relocation $740,000
Interior Improvements $782,560
Administration and Testing $213,202
Bid/Construction Contingencies $207,461
Estimated Project Total: $2,142,163
The Public Works Capital Projects budget (1100-170) has sufficient funds for this project in the Fiscal Year 2019-20 budget.
STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK:
This action supports your Board’s Strategic Framework by fostering transparent, accessible, welcoming and user friendly services and provides and maintains infrastructure.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
None
ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
Your Board could choose not to approve the recommendations to approve the plans and authorization to bid or approve segments of staff’s recommendations. This is not recommended as CAST is a program listed in the Consent Decree and the county may be subject to fines from the DOJ for non-compliance. VW is located in a facility where the lease is due to expire and a new lease is not recommended due to ADA accessibility barriers.
Your Board could choose to approve the interior improvements for the new CAST and VW space and forgo installation of a new roof and replacement and relocation the mechanical equipment to the roof. This is not advisable as current space needs for the CAST and VW programs require the current square footage that Fan Room One currently occupies. This would require the design team to redesign the current construction drawings and reduce the already consolidated space size CAST and VW are projected to occupy. Reducing the project square footage will affect the number of staff members that can inhabit the space, which will result in a programmatic burden. Further, the mechanical equipment is original to the building and is in dire need of replacement. Much of this equipment has suffered from extreme deterioration, is technologically antiquated and is plagued with recurring mechanical failures.
Your Board could choose to approve the interior improvements for the new CAST and VW space and only relocate and replace the equipment necessary to gain the required square footage for the programs to occupy. However, this is not recommended as the existing equipment operates as one single system and making changes to any singular component would create balancing issues with the remaining components and thereby creating unpleasant building ventilation conditions.
Your Board could choose to approve the interior improvements for the new CAST and VW space, replace and relocate the mechanical equipment to the roof and forgo the installation of a new roof on the western hip of the fifth floor. However, this is not recommended as the current roof membrane has exceeded its anticipated life expectancy and has numerous places that are plagued with chronic leaks which will continue to persist.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Architectural Plans for the Construction of the Courthouse Fifth Floor Victim Witness and CAST Project.
Attachment 2: Specifications Volume 1 Construction of the Courthouse Fifth Floor Victim Witness and CAST Project
Attachment 3: Specifications Volume 2 Construction of the Courthouse Fifth Floor Victim Witness and CAST Project
PREVIOUS ACTION/REFERRAL:
Board Order No.: H3, I1,C9, C14
Meeting of: 01/19/2016, 11/13/2018, 03/05/2019, 06/18/2019