The County Administrator is recommending that the Board authorize the Auditor-Controller to reduce the General Fund Capital Reserve Designation by $30,000,000 and transfer those funds to Capital Projects to complete the new Administration Building and Emergency Operations Center/Public Safety Building projects. Now that both projects are advanced to the stage of complete design and have finished the majority of the sub-surface construction we can project the total project cost to construct, furnish and finish both buildings.
The total project costs, assuming the change order discussed today is approved are as follows:
Construction $103,613,000
Design $5,175,000
Construction Management $6,000,000
Furniture $3,200,000
AV/IT $3,000,000
County Fees/Inspections $2,700,000
Special Testing/Inspections $850,000
Total for both buildings $124,538,000
In addition we have also completed ancillary projects to support the new Administration Building by rebuilding and expanding the parking lot at 651 Pine Street, installing solar panels that will provided at least 90% of the electricity at the new Admin Building and restoring the Morrow House for use as County offices during the construction period.
Total for ancillary projects $5,630,000
That brings the total project cost to $130,168,000.
The proposed action in effect ‘budgets’ $30,000,000 of on-time reserves in the current year fiscal budget. Appropriation of these funds requires a four-fifths vote of the Board of Supervisors.
The County Administrator is also recommending approval of a change order to cover the expenses generated by several unforeseen conditions and delays the project has encountered as sub-surface construction commenced.
The largest cost component of this change order is the removal of an abandoned petroleum pipe, an underground storage tank and associated contaminated soil discovered under the site as excavation and pile drilling commenced. There are both direct costs for the work in removing the pipe, tank and soil and costs to the overall project budget due to the scheduled delays caused by the extra work.
Finally, in working with the City of Martinez to design a new street connection to replace Pine Street and replace the storm drain under the existing Pine Street several design changes were required. These included adding a new storm drain system under the new street, changing the alignment of the originally proposed storm drain replacement system for the existing Pine Street and modifying both systems to eliminate conflicts with the actual locations of utilities discovered as part of the sub-surface work.
The original substantial completion date in the original contract was March 26, 2020. The issues discussed earlier could have resulted in project delays of up to six months. The entire project team, Hensel Phelps, Vanir Construction management and County staff, worked to reschedule other work, sequence work and shift some construction sequencing to minimize the project delays to only five weeks. Those efforts to keep the delays to the minimum possible yield a new substantial completion date of April 30, 2020.
In addition, this change order covers a proposed change to the additional parking deck planned at the Martinez Detention Facility (MDF) parking lot. The original plan was for the deck to be accessed from two entrances off of Willow Street. Residents of the City of Martinez, especially a group of neighbors along that block of Willow Street, object to that design. Staff met with the neighbors and agreed to consider a design that would use a ramp to the deck located within the existing parking lot area next to MDF. The cost to construct a ramp would increase the cost of the parking structure by $500,000. Staff recommends the Board approve the change, and the cost is included as part of this change order request. The ramp would allow the preservation of more trees along Willow Street which screen the MDF from the neighbors, although it will require the removal of other trees internal to the MDF parking area. The ramp would also allow the additional parking to be accessed without having to exit the parking area and drive on Willow Street, thereby reducing the traffic on Willow Street, which was a particular concern for the Willow Street residents.
Speakers: Signe Curtis, resident of Martinez; Eileen Jones, resident of Martinez; David Jones, resident of Martinez.