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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-05-02-1:30PM-WORKSHOPBRAZOS COUNTY BRYAN, TEXAS 1 /hrl al!?e., NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA BRAZOS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT WORKSHOP SESSION THE COMMISSIONERS COURT OF BRAZOS COUNTY WILL MEET IN A WORKSHOP SESSION ON TUESDAY 2 MAY 2006 AT 1:30 P.M. IN THE COMMISSIONERS COURTROOM OF THE BRAZOS COUNTY COURTHOUSE, 300 E. 26TH STREET, SUITE 115, BRYAN, TEXAS. 1. Call to Order. 2. Address the possibility of moving both the Appraisal District and the Tax Office into one facility. 3. Adjourn. The Brazos County Courthouse is wheelchair accessible. Handicap parking spaces are available. Any request for sign interpretive services must be made two business days before the meeting. To make arrangements, call (979) 361-4102. Office of the County Judge • 300 East 2& St. Suite 114 • Bryan, Texas 77803 • Fax: (979) 361-4503 -7 Q COMMISSIONERS' COURT WORKSHOP SESSION May 2, 2006 The Commissioners' Court of Brazos County, Texas met in a Workshop Session in the Commissioners' Courtroom in the Courthouse in Bryan, Brazos County, Texas, beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 2, 2006, with the following members of the Court present: Randy Sims, County Judge, Presiding; Lloyd Wassermann, Commissioner of Precinct 1; Duane Peters, Commissioner of Precinct 2; Kenny Mallard, Commissioner of Precinct 3; Carey Cauley, Jr., Commissioner of Precinct 4; Karen McQueen, County Clerk. Attached is a list of the citizens and officials in attendance. Attached is a transcript of the meeting. Vol -7 q Page 17 2 BRAZOS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT Appraisal District - Tax Office Facility Workshop May 2"d, 2006 Sims: I will open the Commissioner's Court workshop session on Tuesday the 2"d of May, 2006 at 1:30 p.m. in the Commissioner's Court room of the Brazos County Court House. I will call this meeting to order and the first item on the agenda is to address the possibility of moving both the Appraisal District and the Tax Office into one facility. Commissioners I know that we; I have been talking about it, I'm not going to blame it on anybody else, I've been talking about it for a long time about putting the Tax Office and the Appraisal District in one location. We had space needs study run on both offices? Roe: Well there was the space needs that the county did as a whole. Your projections on the Tax Office and we recently (inaudible) space needs done report Sims: Ok. Would you give us some kind of idea about what kind of spaces needs they said you needed over there? Landreth: Basically we are occupying about 8,700 square feet right now of physical space. We have some addition storage area which is about another 390 square feet so we are roughly at 9,000 square feet. Based on the study and looking at the projections for `012 up to 2017 we are probably talking between 12,500 and 14,500. Sims: 12,500 and 14,500? Landreth: Uh-huh. (positive) Minimum of 10,600 to break even right now. The 12,500 plus would give us growing room... Sims: What'd you say: 10,000? Landreth: About 10,600 is what we have immediate need for. We projected adding six more people over the ten years which would take us into the 12,500 range. Sims: Have we looked at any space? Landreth: Not yet. Vol 1 Page JU 3 Sims: Not yet. Landreth: No. Our buildin11 committee is going to do a presentation back to the full board on the 15` and make some recommendations. Also, we're obviously waiting to see what your pleasure might be as to whether we need to be looking space jointly or individually. Our lease is up at the end of the year so we are kind of in the process of making some decisions. Sims: You gotta do something. Landreth: Correct. Sims: Ok. And so they are going to make a presentation on the 15`h of this month? Landreth: Yes sir. Sims: Ok. So they've looked at the COG building or COG area over there... Council of Governments... is that correct? Landreth: I think Buddy did. Sims: Ok. Buddy looked at it. Have we completely ruled out the space next to the Appraisal District? Landreth: From the Appraisal Districts point of view we have not ruled out any spaces. Sims: Ok. All right. So 12,500 to 14,500 then, huh? Landreth: I would think so, something in that vicinity. You know, we'll have our final presentation of the space analysis study again at that next meeting so these numbers are a little bit preliminary at this stage. I don't anticipate that they will change drastically. Sims: It really does make sense, I like the COG location or I like where you are now because it is easy to get in from the South end of the county or all areas of the county ...East, West, North, and South. Landreth: That general quarter of where we are right now is ideal for us. Sims: It is. Does anybody have questions as we go? Vol Page 17.3 4 Peters: How much space have you got over there at the Tax Office right now? Do you know? Roe: I knew you were going to ask me that question and Mr. Winn was called to Austin and he had all that data. I can't tell you exactly what we have. Peters: I should have looked. It's on that space needs study I think but I didn't look before I came in here. Roe: One of the biggest problems that we have is that the space we occupy right now... Peters: It's not very efficient is it? Roe: It's extremely inefficient. The space we have right now would probably be adequate for the immediate, especially if we could make better use of it. But we are going to grow also as the county grows and that was part of the study that you had done has indicated. We actually have more employees and require more space at this point than the Appraisal District does. And we have a little bit of different type of needs than they do because of the money that we handle and security issues that we look at that they, perhaps, wouldn't have to. Mallard: You need more space now but is in your current location or if you had the space needs folks look at it to see what square feet you need. Roe: They were looking at square feet that we need and I believe part of the study that was done indicated that the space we have could possibly be adequate where right now we feel cramped in all directions. Partially because we don't have adequate storage and the way the office is laid out is extremely inefficient which makes us less efficient. Mallard: So looking at a new space, how do we know what is the appropriate size? Roe: I believe the number that Buddy had projected was 18,000 but that's down the road like in the next five to ten years. Mallard: Because wasn't it projected from...the tax office was in this space needs too and they projected out to 25 or 20? Sims: 25 I think. Roe: 25. Vol "7 q Page 174 5 Cauley: Has anyone taken a study to determine how many people that go to the Tax Office really need to go to the Appraisal District? Roe: It depends on the issue. Landreth: That's kind of difficult because so much of our traffic never generates anybody physically having to go to the Tax Office. By the same token they are going there to pay taxes let's say 99% of the time everything is complete and there is no need for further intervention from our point. So there is not that much back and forth traffic directly. However, everything that we do, impacts them on the tax collection end so there is quite a bit of activity between the two offices. It's not so much the walk-in traffic though. Roe: One of the issues that we looked at is the fact that at what I consider tremendous savings to the people of Brazos County we share a computer system. We share the data and we work very closely together in handling that data, modifications to that data ...the two offices work well and work closely together and they have to. But our sharing of the computer system also cost the county money because right now we're, obviously, having to do that over a distance. It would be beneficial for us to be in the same building with that particular computer system. In the same instances we do use the county's network also. We use it only for voter registration and bookkeeping department. So it's not as much traffic and I think that we would possibly be more efficient if we could be in the same location where all that was centrally located. They actually house the system ...we work off of it remotely. Mallard: I think Katie has a point. Sims: Yes ma'am. Conner: The existing net square feet for the Tax Office is 9,800. Sims: 9,800 square feet? Conner: Uh-huh. (positive) And it's projected the net need for 2025 at 11,789 feet. Sims: So the Appraisal District square footage needs is going to 14,500 and the Tax Office project of the square foot need is going to 11,800. Mallard: So is there any economy of scale in combining the two offices where you would not need ...where there are some spaces duplicated in there like break rooms and rest rooms and that sort of thing. Common areas that wouldn't be necessary if you had the office combined. Vol I q Page 175 6 Landreth: In the perfect environment we might very well share a lobby type environment; break room quite possibly, restrooms certainly... some of those type things. Then again depending on the exact set up the facility will wind up being ...but you do need all that to stay convenient for the individual offices so that can get back and forth on task. Mallard: There are certain spaces that you can't do that with but with some that would be...I would think that there would be some space that would have common spaces that would not necessarily have to be duplicated. Roe: The only concern there is that the Tax Office portion has got to have security and the ability to basically securely lock off it's area from the Appraisal District area. That is because of the money issues and the bonding issues. The Appraisal District is not bonded to handle money or be around money so we have almost a security issue there. So when you start talking a shared lobby area ...that's feasible if you can get the facility set up in the correct way where you can actually shut off...because there are times when the Appraisal District is working late nights and weekends to get certain things done. The same thing with the Tax Office where we would not need to be able to bleed back and forth into the common areas. Sims: Do we know if the Appraisal District's landlord is about to go up on the rent and then end of the year? Do we have any idea? Landreth: I'm sure he will if he thinks he can. There's quite a bit of vacancy in there. Certainly that gives us some leverage. Are we below market rent? Probably slightly. On the opposite side of that coin, we need some extensive renovations. We are out of space. To stay in the exact cubby we're in now, probably can't happen. There's not enough room to easily spread it out to either the side or to the back. So that would involved some additional finish or work. Depending on absorbs those cost. We might could stay for the same rate we are at right now but we're probably pretty close to a dollar a square foot right now. Sims: How much? Landreth: Pretty close to a dollar a square foot. It's slightly below. Sims: Well you know, for the exception of the tax office... which we have no place to go over there, you could expand somewhat in your area. I think there is space over in that building that you could expand. I think that one of the things that we are going to have to look at is we own where the Tax Office is Vol 7q Page 17 but unless we want to go in there and remodel a building that's been there for forty years or more... Mallard: Western Auto. Sims: Uh-huh. (positive) To me it looks like it may be logical to take and move the Tax Office where they will have enough space to meet space need projections. I can't say that the Tax Office is any different than anybody else here; every office here is absolutely cramped. That's one of the reasons that the Commissioner's Court decided that we would buy the church so that we could unload some of that and take some of the admin over there. But that doesn't help you. Doesn't help the Tax Office. And yall are stacked on top of one another too. I'm saying that probably we need to make a move one way or the other and certainly as quickly as we possibly can due to the fact that Mary, you are in a bind because that contract comes up at the end of the year. Peters: I think the direction that yall were asking was whether the court was kinda looking at trying to combine the two or not so that as you look for what your needs are, whether you need to be looking for enough needs for the county too. Yall have got a committee, I think, that is actually going to do the search for space and if we're going to look at going together then you'll be looking for 24,000 square feet instead of 12,000 square feet or whatever the figures are. I think that's kind of what they are looking. Landreth: Exactly what you said is what we're looking for at this point in time is; what do we look for as our board gets ready to move forward. Peters: And I assume that in your search, you're only looking at whatever is out there. Whether it's and existing building that's vacant or where you're at right now or any other thing that might be out there. But you just needs some direction from us about if we are actually thinking about moving the Tax Office somewhere else... possibly to the same location, then you would be looking for more space rather than just looking for the Appraisal District. Landreth: And if we may windup looking at joint leases, separate leases, anything along those lines can come later down the line. It's just do we focus on a 12,000 square foot facility or do we need to be looking where there is room for the other office as well. Peters: And I guess whether to buy or lease. I guess you'd be looking at both ends. Landreth: That seems to be where our board is leaning ...to really explore all the options. Vol q Page 7 7 8 Peters: I guess then we need to look at...I mean if we are talking about buying; from what I heard the other day, the Appraisal District probably does not have the authority to buy 24,000 square feet and lease out the other half to the county. I think the county has the authority to buy the 24,000 square feet and lease out the other half to the Appraisal District. Landreth: Correct. That is one of the things that the code is kind of silent on if you will. We are eligible and able to own a facility but it says for our needs. Peters: Right. Landreth: It doesn't' really give you explicit authority to own additional property Peters: And that's where I'm not sure where we are at right now as far as ability to be able to purchase or...because it's going to take some borrowing. Let's say we find a building that would meet both needs and we need to purchase it, it would like because of that, that either the county has to buy the thing and lease it or unless it could be...if it happened to be two building sitting side by side then I guess yall could purchase one and we could purchase the other or something like that. But if we begin to look at purchasing something then we are going to need to know what's going to happen ...we'll have to borrow the money, we'll have to the COs... Landreth: We'll have to budget for it however. Peters: Right. Exactly. But we really don't know that until somebody has looked out there to see what's out there, whether to lease or buy or whatever. Sims: The committee comes back and says, "Hey we've identified three different locations that would meet the needs..." and take a look at it. You know there's a fine line between owning and...number one, when we own it, it takes it off the tax rolls so that costs us. When we own it, we have to maintain it which is not inexpensive, we know that. When we lease it...number one, we can keep it back on the tax rolls; number two, we can write into the contract that the leasor will have some responsibility for AC/Heating and this type of thing. So are some things that we are going to have to weight once the committee comes back with locations. And I don't say confine it to a lease property. Let's look at what's available for sale too. The more properties that will fit our needs here that we come back with, the better off we are. Because then we can take a look at it and see which would be best for Appraisal District and the Tax Office. Vol `7 q Page 17 8 9 Peters: I realize that it does come off of the tax rolls but that person that is leasing it has got to plug in whatever their taxes are. I mean we are going to be paying more in rent because they are paying the taxes and they have to make up for that. And then any maintenance, they will have to plug in something to maintain it too. So if you don't have maintenance I mean it just depends on the building. If you buy... Sims: You're absolutely right. I mean I can see this next year and Carlos coming and saying I need five people. As you well know, staff never drops off the sheet. But we'll look at both of them and see what we've got. See what it looks like. Mallard: In your space that you're leasing out, with the cost that you are paying, what other amenities are you getting? Janitorial? Landreth: No, we provide our own janitorial, we pay our electrical bill, water is provided. We've had some liabilities on the heading and cooling units. Mallard: The air conditioning? Landreth: Uh-huh. (positive) Basically we are responsible for the interior portion of that ...minor repairs, annual servicing, that sort of thing. Complete compressor replacement would go back to the landlord. Sims: Mary do you know what is in that space where the pizza place was? How many square feet, do you know? Because you and Buddy looked at that, didn't you? Landreth: I want to say there is slightly less than 20,000 square feet in that portion. And between that portion and our space is a fire exit which probably could be moved. I'm not sure what code is, how often they have to have those spaces. Sims: Ok. Landreth: To our immediate other side would be about another 1,000 square feet. It's just vacant right now. Sims: So you got 20,000 and another... that's about 30,000 square feet then isn't it? Landreth: At least that much between the two spaces. Sims: Yeah. And we're looking for 24,000 square feet for both of them. Landreth: Or slightly more depending, again, on the exact date and everything. Vol Page 171 10 Sims: Well 26,000. Conner: Is that wall between you and the old Gattie Town movable or is it a firewall? Landreth: Well, it is a fire exit. It dumps out of the back of our building into that hallway and out the back of the Gatti's space into that hallway. Is it a firewall itself? No. Conner: They could move it. Landreth: Uh-huh. (positive) I think that wall is removable. Sims: Ok. You got any questions? Mallard: I would just be concerned building a building today that the cost would be a whole lot more than renting or looking at an existing building. We're finding out about what cost are here lately. Still, what's inventoried out there is probably a better price than building... it's basically that we don't need anything real special as far as a building is concerned it just basically an office type space and as long as we can get the right size. Well besides location we don't even have a good spot there. Sims: Ok, let's wait until we see what their committee comes back with I guess. I would tell your committee to look for both sides. Look to satisfy your needs Mary, and then in the mean time, also keep an eye and see if we can't find something for the needs of both in one location. If you will ask them to do that, I would appreciate it. Mallard: And you said you were going to have a meeting of the committee on the 15`h? Landreth: Our full board of directors will meet on the 15a' and at that meeting one of the things for the agenda is going to be the presentation of the space analysis study. Mallard: And when and where is that going to be? Landreth: At our office on Briarcrest and it's at 9 a.m. Cauley: As always, I do have an opinion and I would think that the two of them together would probably be the most efficient. We try to do the best we can to manage the taxpayer's money and if we do have a computer system or other Vol 79 Page 180 II functions that overlay or interplay between the two offices ...I would think that without any scientific or empirical data that the two of them together would probably be the most efficient way to go. Sims: Anything else? Well Kristy, Mary you know if the legislature has its way over there we may not even need yall any longer. We're not going to be collecting any taxes and there won't be anything... Roe: We can go into that really up and coming job in the fast food service. Sims: Ok. Is there anything else? I will try and I'm sure that some of the rest of us or all of us want to be at that meeting. be sure and tell Debbie so she can post it. Cauley: When is it going to be? Sims: It is the 15th of this month, at 9 a.m. in the board room of the Appraisal District. Landreth: That is a Monday, correct? The 15th? Roe: Yes. The Monday after city elections. Sims: The way you guys who live in the city, go vote and get it over with. I'm gonna go this afternoon and get mine over. Ok. I will adjourn this meeting of this workshop session of the Commissioner's Court. Thank you very much. End of tape. Vol '71 Page 19/ 12 of 12 The foregoing minutes of the Commissioners Court Workshop held May 2 , 2006 , have been examined and approved in open Court this the day of 20LIc , in Bryan, Brazos County, Texas. ~ Duane Peters Commissioner, Precinct No. 2 C ey Ca leY, Jr. Commissi ner, Precinct 4 Attest: Karen McQueen County Clerk Lloyd Wassermann Commissioner, Precinct No. 1 n Kenny Mal and Commissioner, Precinct No. 3 Vol 7 q Page l Sa BRAZOSCOUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT n~~' DAY OF 20o(, AT 1-3, AM/PM &AV /-P .5-/ erp Name Organization P- ~o. '.~Jc.~ 1 ~'f? c l83