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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 12081987 - FC.3 iO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FRZIM: Finance Committee n,,,� Supervisor T. Powers Cwt ra Supervisor R. Schroder DATE: Co �' December 2, 1987 ��"`JV SUBJECT: MUNICIPAL COURTS SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) .& BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Direct the County Administrator and the General Services Director to . continue to work on the development of the approved, funded court improvement projects. 2. Include the Mt. Diablo Municipal Court request for construction of a holding cell in the list of projects for consideration . in the 1988-89 fiscal year Capital Budget. 3 . Direct the County Administrator to work on the long-range plans for municipal court facilities as outlined in this report. 4. Direct that decisions on providing for court needs should be based upon consideration of all aspects of court funding and priorities. Background: The Board, on. Qctober 13 , 1987, ,referred to this committee the issue of proposed and future needs for improvements in the facilities for the municipal courts. The following information is a brief summary of the current and planned projects for the courts as well as a projection of future needs prepared by the County Administrator at the request of this Committee. Bay Municipal Court Short-term: The Bay Court consists of five judges and one traffic commissioner housed in the Richmond Administration Building. The judges all have well appointed courtrooms . and the administrative space is the largest of any of the municipal court districts. The traffic commissioner is utilizing very unsatisfactory, temporary space. There is no jury assembly room. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT; YES SIGNATURE' - RECOMMENDATION OF COUNT DMINISTRATOR RECOMME ATION OF BOARD COb{MITTEE APPROVE O HER �/V� Supervisor an(_ Fanden, _Substitute S15NATURE s : S p'�rvis Tom Powers for Supervisor obert Schroder ACTION OF BOARD ON JzC Zz­, A APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED � OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE UNANIMOUS (ABSENT — ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. County Administrator cc: Clerk of the Board ATTESTED Municipal Courts —� PHIL BATCHELOR. CLERK OF THE BOARD OF General Services SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR DEPUTY M382/7-63 BY / _, A project has been proposed and was funded in the 1986-87 budget to improve the commissioners area and provide a jury assembly room. The project also increases the space for the District Attorney, Probation, and the Law Library. The project is still undergoing architectural studies in that all estimates have exceeded the available funding. Factors that require further study are the future of the Superior Court branch in Richmond, the future of the Law Library in Richmond, the potential for and impacts of television arraignments and the impacts of the new West County Detention Facility. All of the above factors are being studied to determine the best long-term use of any improvement expenditures within the court area. Long-term: A study done in 1981 projected a need for eight judicial positions for the Bay Court by 1987 . Currently the weighted caseload factors indicate a need for 6. 4 positions. The court currently has six positions. There have not been any recent studies done to project future needs based upon up-to-date information. The Bay Court Judges have not requested such a study from the Judicial Council. The plan for future expansion for the court is to utilize all of the available space in the south wing of the building for courtrooms. When the needs exceed the available space, expansion will have to be accommodated by an addition with a parking structure or expansion co-located with the West County Justice Center. No planning has been done on either of these options. Delta Municipal Court Short-term: The Delta court has two judges and one traffic commissioner housed in the Pittsburg Administration Building. The lay-out of the courtrooms is inefficient and poorly suited to the volume of activity taking place. The support spaces for the court administration, holding, chambers and processing is by far the worst situation of any of the municipal courts. A project has been proposed and funded to began to correct some of the inadequacies in the court. The Social Service .Department is scheduled to vacate approximately 9,000 square feet of -the building early in 1988 . The current phase I project will remodel the vacated space for the court and rearrange certain existing court areas. The remodel will include a new space for the traffic and small claims courtroom, a new administrative area of adequate " size and a jury assembly room. The existing courtrooms will remain unchanged. The architectural plans are being prepared now so as to have the project ready to commence construction when the Social Service staff vacates. Long-term: The concept master plan prepared for the Pittsburg Administration Building included four additional phases for development. The additional work would provide adequate holding facilities and up to a maximum of five courtrooms plus the traffic hearing room at a cost of over $2,000, 000. Two of the courtrooms and all of the holding cells were in an addition to the building. In addition, in order to develop the building concept for the courts beyond phase I it is necessary to relocate the Methadone Clinic from the building. The rapid growth of the East County clearly indicates the need for planning future court expansion. The concept plan completed for the Pittsburg Building contemplates a complicated, disruptive and very expensive plan to gain additional space for the Delta Court. It is essential that the first phase proceed to give some relief to the current situation, but before future phases are considered, the alternative of another site more centrally located should be considered. In order to meet a growing caseload, the Delta Court Judges have asked the Judicial Council to conduct a judgeship needs study beginning in 1988. Mt. Diablo Municipal Court Short-term: The Mt. Diablo Municipal Court consists of four judges and one traffic commissioner housed in three locations. Two courtrooms are located in the Concord Civic Center in a building that the County will own at the end of 1991 . One courtroom and the traffic hearing room are located at 2970 Willow Pass Road in Concord. The building is on a lease-purchase arrangement with the Public Facilities Corporation. The remaining courtroom is in the court annex adjacent "to the Martinez Detention Facility. The only project currently under consideration for the Mt. Diablo Court is a request for construction of a holding cell at the 2970 Willow Pass location in order to avoid walking in-custody persons to the civic center holding cells. The holding cell has not been budgeted. Long-term: The consolidation of the Mt. Diablo and Walnut Creek/Danville Municipal Courts into a new building complex on County-owned property in Pleasant Hill is the long-range plan to accommodate growth and improve court efficiency. The project (the Diablo Valley Justice Center) was deferred some years ago due to a lack of funding. A scaled down project housing only the courts could be considered for a. first phase of the complex. The sources of funding for the project would be the stream of revenue now devoted to the occupancy costs for the present court buildings in both judicial districts. In addition, it has been proposed that the County Redevelopment Agency could, sometime after 1990, fund the infrastructure improvements needed for the justice complex. Additional funding would still be required to supplement the above sources in order to cover the cost of deferred financing of a new court complex. Walnut Creek/Danville Municipal Court Short-term: The Walnut Creek/Danville Municipal Court has three judges and one commissioner housed in one building at Ygnacio Valley and Broadway Streets in Walnut Creek. The building has just had a major remodel and renovation accomplished to upgrade the space and add holding cells. No additional improvements are under consideration. The Board took action some time ago to acquire the court building and the adjacent office structure in order to preserve the County position in the space, fix the annual costs and acquire equity in the site for future use. Further expansion of the court can be accommodated by utilizing portions of the office structure and rearrangements within the court building since the County now controls the entire site. Long-term: The same comments apply for this court as for the Mt. Diablo district„ The terms of the lease-purchase arrangement for the Walnut Creek facility allow for sale of the property by the County after five years without penalty. The sale provision was included to coincide with an optimistic schedule for the Diablo Valley Justice Center. Recommendations The short-term needs of the various courts are being taken care of and are funded except for the holding cell requested for Mt. Diablo. The Board will be given an opportunity to review each improvement project in more detail when the plans are presented for approval at the various stages of completion. The Delta Court project is proceeding as rapidly as possible. The Bay Court remodel will take some time to establish a firm program that is within the budgeted funds. It is recommended that the County Administrator and the General Services Director bs directed to continue to work on the funded, approved short-term projects and to include the Mt. Diablo holding cell request in the projects in consideration for funding in the 1988-89 fiscal year Capital Budget. It is recommended that the County Administrator be directed to continue to work on the long-range plans for the municipal courts as outlined in this report. Specific actions necessary are to review the costs and funding for the Diablo Valley Justice Center to determine when the timing may be appropriate to initiate actions on the project. Further review of the costs and taming for development of the Pittsburg Building versus a new location and building for the Delta Court should also be accomplished as soon as practical. This report points out the need for heavy investment in court facilities in the future but does not address the other major court needs. It is recommended that the Board and the County Administrator consider all aspects of the court issues together when reviewing a particular court need rather than reviewing court needs in isolation from one another. MUNICIPAL COURT RECAP NO. OF IMPROVEMENTS JUDICIAL CURRENT SHORT-TERM LONG-TERM COURT DISTRICT POSITIONS SPACE COST COST BAY 6 35,000 $530, 0001 $ Unknown DELTA 3 14,000 $850,0001 $2,000, 000+ MT. DIABLO 5 21,000 $ 30,000 WALNUT CREEK/DAN. 4 23, 800 $ n/a } $12,000,0002 notes: 1. Funded projects. 2. Rough gross estimate for a courts-only project.