Alpharetta City Council Workshop Summary

Posted Wednesday, December 13, 2006

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Council Workshop of Mayor and Council, December 11th, 2006

 

I. Call to Order:

The City Administrator, Bob Regus, called the meeting to order.

 

II. Roll Call:

All Council members were present.

 

III. New Business:

 

A. Alpharetta Public Safety Foundation – Presented by Director Gary George

 

§ Gary Cann, Chairman and President, initiated the presentation.

§ He spoke on how this foundation, the APSF, would be made up of Fortune 1000 companies as opposed to smaller businesses.

§ Mr. Cann presented the By-Laws for Council’s review.

§ The By-Laws have been constructed and reviewed for content and consistency by their legal counsel.

§ Their request is that the APSF have the opportunity, on a bi-annual basis, to come to the Alpharetta City Council and update members on their progress, contributions and value they are bringing cooperatively to the Department of Public Safety.

§ The Council asked questions.

§ Councilman Aiken expressed concern over endorsing a 501c3 non-profit tax exempt organization as an elected body and the legal issues that could arise from an “endorsement”.

§ The Foundation is seeking some sort of acknowledgement by the City Council that is exists and has their endorsement.

§ Councilman DeRito has been involved in the process and has a seat on the APSF advisory board as a non-voting member, and supports the Foundation and its intentions.

§ There are several large businesses in the area they are prepared to donate funds to the organization once it is set up.

§ The Foundation is seeking “support” from the Mayor and City Council as opposed to an “endorsement”.

§ Councilwoman Gibson expressed concern about board members endorsing political candidates and that the Foundation may become a voice to ask the City Council to allocate more funds to the Public Safety Department which is doing a very good job already.

§ Her concern is the potential political pressure that could be a byproduct of the Foundation, and that the police department should already have a relationship with the business community.

§ The Chair and President of the APSF stated that such improprieties and inappropriate political activities would not be tolerated under his watch.

§ Councilwoman Gibson recommended that the Board draft and sign a Code of Ethics to assist with their mission of proper stewardship.

§ Councilman Monson believes that the APSF is doing the right thing by seeking support from the City Council even though they are not required to have Council’s support to officially form as a 501c3.

§ Stating what the body will not do or engage in was recommended by Councilman Monson.

§ Councilman Belle Isle expressed his concern with the affiliation between the City of Alpharetta and the APSF, and believes that an example of a specific project would be helpful.

§ The action item for the APSF will be to take the recommendations from the council back to their attorney for review.

§ The Council’s next step may be to have a Resolution that endorses this Foundation.

§ It was also recommend that the City Administrator have a place on the Advisory Board.

 

B. City of Alpharetta Geographic information System (GIS Program) – Presented by Robert Mullis and Stephen Waldrup

 

§ Robert Mullis came forward to initiate the presentation and give the Council a brief update on where the City is with the GIS program.

§ The City has 17 GIS power users and about 7 general users.

§ GIS projects include Access Point File – Fire & Emergency Services (GeoLynx), Police (Crime View), and Community Development (Street Names/Addresses); Tour De Georgia; Street Centerline; Watershed Study; GASB24; Flood Plain Mapping; Fire Station Response Districts; Aerial Mapping; Annexations; Municipal Boundaries; Race Activities; and Subdivisions.

§ Stephen provided some examples of how GIS mapping has been working for the City and various departments to-date.

§ He, along with Adam Montgomery, also provided a live demo with ArcMAp

§ TS has created multiple data sets that can be viewed in various layers.

§ The Council asked questions.

§ Stephen welcomed requests for GIS information from Council to assist with decision making and presentation needs.

§ The Council was impressed with what was presented.

 

C. New City Hall Recommended Architect

 

§ Diana Wheeler came forward for the presentation.

§ Jeff Pieper with Pieper O’Brien, Herr Architects came forward.

§ Staff is seeking City Council’s authorization to enter into negotiations with this firm with respect to the programming and design of the new City Hall facility.

§ Should such negotiations prove unsuccessful, staff s seeking approval to enter into negotiations with the alternate vendor, The Sizemore Group.

§ Jeff Pieper distributed literature on construction delivery methods and LEED overview.

§ Design is estimated to be complete in regards to construction drawings in nine to twelve months upon notice to proceed.

§ The Council asked questions and congratulated the firm for being selected as the architects on this project.

 

D. City Hall Relocation during Construction Plan

 

§ Diana Wheeler came forward to initiate the discussion.

§ James Drinkard came forward to discuss the relocation recommendation.

§ Staff is bringing forward a recommendation for the temporary relocation of City Hall operations to 6,864 square feet in Alpharetta Square Shopping Center in preparation for and during construction of the new City Hall facility.

§ Included with the recommendation is a budget for associated relocation costs that would be incurred during the remainder of the 2007 Fiscal Year.

§ Staff is seeking City Council comments and approval to have this item placed on an upcoming regular meeting agenda.

§ In preparation for the construction of Alpharetta’s new City Hall and the related demolition of the existing structure, a need exists to temporarily relocate certain City offices.

§ It is projected that the temporary location would be in operation for a period of approximately two years from the date of activation.

§ The current development schedule for Alpharetta City Center, the mixed-use development of which City Hall will be a key component, calls for demolition of existing structures to begin in Spring 2007.

§ At the same time crews will remove the underground storage tanks beneath the Main Street parking lot just south of City Hall, causing the lot to be inaccessible.

§ Due to these factors it is projected that City Hall will have to be vacated by April 30, 2007.

§ City Staff has undertaken a process to define these temporary space needs, assess available facility options, and develop a budget for costs associated with the relocation.

§ The task was completed by an internal committee comprised of representatives of the Administration, Community Development, Engineering / Public Works, Finance, and Technology Services Departments.

§ To begin the process of identifying potential temporary locations Staff conducted an analysis of the existing City Hall facilities and the specific operations carried out therein.

§ The intent of this review was to identify the minimum and optimal space requirements for performance of required functions for a period of two years.

§ The next phase of the facility needs analysis was to consider existing City facilities into which some City Hall personnel and/or functions could be absorbed and the feasibility from an organizational performance and management perspective of diversifying the location of those functions and personnel.

§ Three facts were revealed:

1. To maintain current functionality and management practices, all personnel currently operating from City Hall need to be housed in a single location.

2. The existing data network and telephony switch equipment could be relocated to the Engineering/Public Works facility without negative impact to functional efficiency.

3. Opportunities exist to leverage existing public facilities for the purposes of housing City Council Chambers and conducting the public meetings of the City’s various boards and commissions.

§ Based on Staff’s analysis it was determined that short-term lease of a facility providing 6,000 to 7,000 square feet of functional space would be required.

§ The following facility characteristics / requirements were also identified:

1. A minimum of four “private” offices would be required for Human Resources functions due to the need for confidentiality.

2. Private offices would also be required for the Mayor, City Administrator, and department directors.
City Hall personnel and functions may share conference room / meeting space, a break room, and some basic office equipment.

3. The ability to cluster certain functions / operating groups (e.g. human resources, technology services, etc.) within the facility was highly desirable.

4. The temporary facility should be centrally located within the City’s corporate bounds and have sufficient visibility to be easily found by citizens and customers.

5. Ease of accessibility and parking availability are primary concerns.

§ Based on the identified facility needs, Staff issued a Confidential Request for Information following the standard practices of the City’s office of economic development.

§ This process notifies representatives of commercial real estate that the City’s economic development office is representing a client that seeks potential locations within the City of Alpharetta, provides the requirements of the real estate search, and requests that interested parties submit information on any properties that they represent which meet the stated requirements.

§ The responses were evaluated by economic development Staff based on cost and how well each proposed property met the aforementioned facility needs.

§ From this evaluation a ranked “short list” of facilities was developed and brought to the Staff committee for identification of a recommended property.

§ From a pure cost of real estate perspective Alpharetta Business Center was the least expensive option, but factors related to property location, visibility, accessibility and parking forced the property down in the rankings.

§ Further, the general appearance of the property was viewed as inappropriate to serve as the “front door” to City services.

§ The recommendation of the Staff committee is to support the temporary relocation of Alpharetta City Hall operations to Alpharetta Square Shopping Center.

§ While the proposal of this location is the second lowest bidder, other criteria make the facility the most attractive option.

§ These include:

1. Proximity to other City offices and the current / future City Hall site.

2. Location along a key travel route.

3. Ability to connect to City-owned fiber lines.

4. Abundant parking and ease.

5. Single-floor configuration and ease of accessibility.

6. Ability to wrap the necessary extension of the Community Development Department’s existing lease into the deal.

§ In analyzing the temporary relocation of City operations from the existing City Hall facility Staff identified various costs that would be associated with the project; ranging from the physical move to technology infrastructure issues.

§ The majority of these costs, including a portion of the real estate lease, will be incurred prior to the beginning of the 2008 Fiscal Year.

§ This would precipitate a mid-year budget allocation of $323,279.20.

§ The Council asked questions.

§ Councilman Aiken asked if the leas could be backloaded such that lease payments do not have to be paid until the FY08 budget season which begins in July.

§ The space is up to code.

§ It is estimated that Kings Ridge Christian School will be vacated in the fall of 2007.

§ Contingency plans need to be considered pending approval of the TAD by the Fulton County Board of Education.

§ The estimated timeframe that the move would take place could be as early as the end of April.

§ Work on the old City Hall site to include demolition could be a May-June timeframe which includes the entire site.

 

IV. Adjournment:

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