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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 12162008 - SD.8 £_6E.......o Contra Costa TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS oI. `'_ s County FROM:. MICHAEL J. LANGO, DIRECTOR OF GENERAL SERVICES DATE: December 16, 2008 SUBJECT: TRANSFER OF COURT FACILITIES TO STATE OF CALIFORNIA PURSUANT TO TRIAL COURT FACILITIES ACT OF 2002(SB 1732)(T00030)(DISTRICTS: ALL) SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS 1. REVIEW and CONSIDER the attached initial studies and Notices of Exemption for the proposed projects, and FIND that the proposed projects are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3)because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity may have a significant effect on the environment. 2. APPROVE, as the Governing Board of the County of Contra Costa Public Financing Authority, and conditioned upon prior consent of the Bond Insurer, a transfer agreement substantially in the form of the attached Transfer Agreement Between the Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, and the County of Contra Costa for the Transfer of Responsibility for Court Facilities with respect to the following properties: 1010 Ward Street, Martinez, CA (Jail/Court Annex); 1111 Ward Street, Martinez, CA (File Unit); and 202 Glacier Drive, Martinez, CA (Juvenile Court). CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: SIGNATURE RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE _OTHER The �¢,�bnorabl �e�elnc� �. P�� ul niers o�atre cAmmer�,fi . SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON U �� v APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED "OTAER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE UNANIMOUS (ABSENT /K//w ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS OONNTTHE pDATE SHOWN. �q�u ATTESTED DAVID JT1Nr A,CLERK OF THE BO OF SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Contact Person: Michael J.Lango(313-7100) tlI /)�y� !f W j.� � � BYI�I;$�r �C/W�W �JU"wL� ,DEPUTY Originating Department: General Services Dept. Cc: General Services Dept. Real Estate Services Division Administration and Accounting County Administrator's Office County Counsel Auditor-Controller(via GSD) SUBJECT: TRANSFER OF COURT FACILITIES TO STATE OF CALIFORNIA PURSUANT TO TRIAL COURT FACILITIES ACT OF 2002 (SB 1732)(T00030) (DISTRICTS: ALL) DATE: December 16, 2008 PAGE: 2 of 7 3. APPROVE, as the Governing Board of the County of Contra Costa Public Financing Authority, and conditioned upon prior consent of the Bond Insurer, a transfer agreement substantially in the form of the attached Transfer Agreement Between the Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, and the County of Contra Costa for the Transfer of Responsibility and Transfer of Title for Court Facilities with respect to the following property: 1020 Ward Street, Martinez, CA (Bray Court). 4. APPROVE, as the Governing Board of the County of Contra Costa Public Financing Authority, and conditioned upon prior consent of the Bond Insurer, a joint occupancy agreement(JOA) substantially in the form of the attached Joint Occupancy Agreement Between the Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, and the County of Contra Costa with respect to the following properties: 1020 Ward Street, Martinez, CA (Bray Court); 1010 Ward Street, Martinez, CA (Jail/Court Annex); 1111 Ward Street, Martinez, CA (File Unit); and 202 Glacier Drive, Martinez, CA (Juvenile Court). 5. APPROVE a transfer agreement substantially in the form of the attached Transfer Agreement Between the Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, and the County of Contra Costa for the Transfer of Responsibility for Court Facilities with respect to the following properties: 1010 Ward Street, Martinez, CA (Jail/Court Annex); 1111 Ward Street, Martinez, CA (File Unit); 202 Glacier Drive, Martinez, CA (Juvenile Court); 625 Court Street,Martinez, CA (Court mail and ADR facilites); 628-630 Escobar Street, Martinez, CA (Court Facilities/Systems); 815 Court Street, Martinez, CA (parking); 500 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek, CA (parking); and 2020 N. Broadway, Walnut Creek, CA (storage), conditioned upon prior consent of the Bond Insurer for those facilities with bonded indebtedness; 6. APPROVE a transfer agreement substantially in the form of the attached Transfer Agreement Between the Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, and the County of Contra Costa for the Transfer of Responsibility and Transfer of Title for Court Facilities with respect to the following property: 1020 Ward Street, Martinez, CA (Bray Court), 725 Court Street(Wakefield Taylor Courthouse) and 640 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek, CA (Walnut Creek/Danville District Courthouse), conditioned upon prior consent of the Bond Insurer for those facilities with bonded indebtedness. 7. APPROVE a joint occupancy agreement substantially in the form of the attached Joint Occupancy Agreement Between the Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, and the County of Contra Costa with respect to the following properties: 625 Court Street, Martinez, CA; 725 Court Street, Martinez, CA; 1010 Ward Street, Martinez, CA; 1020 Ward.Street, Martinez, CA; 1111 Ward Street, Martinez, CA; 202 Glacier Drive, Martinez, CA; and 2020 N. Broadway, Walnut Creek, CA. 8. AUTHORIZE the Chair, Board of Supervisors, or designee, to EXECUTE the Transfer Agreements and Joint Occupancy Agreements, substantially in the form of the attached Transfer Agreements and Joint Occupancy Agreements, and such deeds, easements, licenses and other documents as may be necessary to accomplish the approved actions so long as their terms are consistent with the approved actions, in each case upon recommendation of the General Services Director and approval as to form by County Counsel, and conditioned upon prior consent of the Bond Insurer for those facilities with bonded indebtedness. SUBJECT: TRANSFER OF COURT FACILITIES TO STATE OF CALIFORNIA PURSUANT TO TRIAL COURT FACILITIES ACT OF 2002 (SB 1732)(T00030) (DISTRICTS: ALL) DATE: December 16, 2008 PAGE: 3 of 7 9. DIRECT the Director of Conservation and Development, or designee, to file the Notices of Exemption with the County Clerk, DIRECT the Director of General Services, or designee, to arrange for the payment of the handling fees to the Department of Conservation and Development and County Clerk for filing of the Notices of Exemption. FINANCIAL IMPACT The transfers of title and responsibility for the County facilities under the various documents will relieve the County of the ongoing obligation to provide the Court with necessary and suitable facilities, except for certain bond-related and seismic liabilities described below. The County is obligated,however, to make projected annual "County Facilities Payments" or"CFPs" of approximately $1.25 million in perpetuity, as discussed below. These payments are equal approximately to the current year County costs to maintain the transferred facilities, including staff and contract services costs for preventive and major maintenance, utilities, and insurance. JOAs have been negotiated to assign responsibility for those buildings where both Court and County departments are occupants. Under the JOAs each party is responsible for maintenance of its exclusive space. The cost of maintaining common areas in these buildings will be split proportionally based on occupancy. Management of the common areas in joint occupancy buildings will be the responsibility of the owner of the building, subject to reimbursement from the non-managing party. The JOAs will therefore require increased coordination between the County and Courts for budgeting, billing preparation/review, and agreement on major maintenance and renovation projects. The financial impact of the JOAs has not yet been determined. Funding for the anticipated CFPs has been included in the FY 2008-2009 County budget. BACKGROUND Beginning with the Lockyer-Isenberg Trial Court Funding Act in 1997, the State passed a succession of legislation to move funding and control of Court operations from counties to the California Judicial Council. The Trial Court Facilities Act of 2002, codified under Government Code sections 70301 et seq., addressed transfer of responsibility for"court facilities" (defined by the Act to include court rooms,judges chambers, administrative support areas,building operating systems, holding cells, common and connecting spaces, parking, and the grounds appurtenant to court buildings)by authorizing the State of California, through the Judicial Council (acting through its staff agency, the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)), to assume responsibility for these facilities throughout the State. "Responsibility for facilities" is defined in the Act as the obligation of providing, operating, maintaining, altering and renovating a building that contains court facilities. Under the Act, transfer of court facilities must occur prior to December 31, 2009; however, County Facilities Payments required under the Act are subject to penalties (additional inflators) if the transfer documents are executed after December 31, 2008. SUBJECT: TRANSFER OF COURT FACILITIES TO STATE OF CALIFORNIA PURSUANT TO TRIAL COURT FACILITIES ACT OF 2002 (SB 1732)(T00030)(DISTRICTS: ALL) DATE: December 16, 2008 PAGE: 4 of 7 County Facilites Pavment Commencing upon the transfer of court facilities, Government Code section 70353 requires counties to continue to provide the State with operations and maintenance funding at historic levels, known as "County Facilities Payments" or "CFPs." The Act specifies the methodology for calculating the CFPs based on expenditures during the five year period from Fiscal Years 1995-1996 to 1999-2000, adjusted for inflation until the date of transfer, at which time it becomes fixed. These facilities expenditures included labor, materials, and contract costs for maintenance, utilities, insurance and major maintenance repairs and renovations. CFPs were calculated as prescribed and have been transmitted to the AOC. Final approval of the calculations by the State Department of Finance (DOF) is anticipated but has not yet been received. If approved without changes, total CFP support to the State will be approximately 1.48 million annually. Benefit to the County The advantage to the County from completing transfers of court facilities is that the County is relieved of any further responsibility for providing, operating, maintaining, altering and renovating "necessary and suitable" court facilities. This relieves the County of any future obligation to repair, upgrade or replace older existing court facilities. Upon transfer of responsibility these costs will be the sole responsibility of the State, subject to the CFPs and certain liabilities that the Act requires the County to retain (described below). Under the Act, CFPs will not increase above the current amount and the County's obligation is fixed. Seismic As originally enacted, the Act prohibited transfer of court facilities in a building having a seismic safety rating of Level V under the State's Seismic Risk Table (SRL-V) absent certain additional concessions. There are two SRL-V buildings containing court facilities being transferred: Wakefield Taylor and Walnut Creek/Danville District Courthouse. Recognizing the impracticality of this provision, SB 10 (2006) amended the Act to allow transfer of court facilities in SRL-V buildings provided the County retains all liabilities for seismic-related property loss, injury or death, until relieved of those obligations by the occurrence of certain events set forth in the Act. Consequently, in order to transfer the court facilities in SRL-V buildings, the transfer documents before your Board today require the County to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the State from any losses and liabilities arising from a seismic event. Under the Act, the County must retain these liabilities for either(a) 35 years, or until (b) repair, retrofit or replacement of the building raises its seismic-safety rating to level IV or better; or(c) the facilities are no longer used as court facilities; or(d)the County and the Judicial Council agree on a method to address the seismic issue such that the State does not have a financial burden greater than it would have had if the transferred facility had a Level IV rating or better. The latter method, an agreement putting the State in the same financial position it would have been in if the transferred facility had a Level IV or better rating, is available to the County and the AOC until December 2009 and requires DOF approval. SUBJECT: TRANSFER OF COURT FACILITIES TO STATE OF CALIFORNIA PURSUANT TO TRIAL COURT FACILITIES ACT OF 2002 (SB 1732)(T00030) (DISTRICTS: ALL) DATE: December 16, 2008 PAGE: 5 of 7 Facilities Proposed for Transfer of Responsibility The County intends to transfer responsibility for all court facilities in current use within the County. The recommended actions allow for the transfer of responsibility for all court facilities in the County except for the following: 751 Pine Street, Martinez, CA (Family Law), 100 37th Street, Richmond, CA (Richmond Bay Courthouse), and 100 38th Street, Richmond, CA (archival and storage facility in the Richmond Health Center). "Transfer of Responsibility' is the critical step in relieving the County of its current obligation to provide, operate, maintain, renovate and replace necessary and suitable trial court facilities. Under the Act, a County must transfer title (as well as responsibility) to those buildings that are occupied 100% by the Court, and can transfer title and responsibility to those buildings in which the Court is the majority occupant. The only facility being transferred in which the Court is the sole occupant is the Walnut Creek/Danville District Courthouse. Upon transfer of responsibility, the State will be solely responsible for the operations and maintenance of this building. In addition, two additional sites where the Court is a substantial majority occupant are proposed for transfer of title. These are: Wakefield Taylor and Bray. However, the County will retain its current occupancy in these buildings under the type of joint occupancy agreement discussed below. Transfers of title to the State must be approved by the California Public Works Board (PWB). The AOC has advised that the PWB approval process could take several months in light of the number of court facility transfers that will flood the system on or about December 31, 2008. The County will continue to maintain property insurance during the interim period between the transfer of responsibility and the transfer of actual title, with the State reimbursing the County for a pro rata share of the premiums based on its occupancy. Joint Occupancy Agreements (JOA) A Joint Occupancy Agreement has been negotiated and prepared for each building and campus (where applicable) in which the County and the State will share occupancy. These agreements were created to establish the respective rights and responsibilities of the State and County. Specifically, JOAs reflect the role of each party with regard to exclusive use areas, common areas, managing party and contributing party responsibilities, cost allocation methodology for common area maintenance and repairs, central plant operations, security, emergency response, liability allocation and dispute resolution. The County will be the managing party of all shared-use buildings except for Wakefield Taylor and Bray. Each party is solely responsible for the management of, and expenses related to, its exclusive-use area. In some instances, the State may elect to hire services from the County for its exclusive-use areas pursuant to a separately negotiated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). If the parties agree on the terms of an MOU for services at one or more facility, staff will bring the MOU(s) to the Board for consideration at that time. Bonded Indebtedness The Act provides that court facilities in buildings subject to bonded indebtedness may transfer so long as the County either retains all responsibility for retiring the debt, or transfers the source of debt retirement to the State. Under the transfer documents, the County will retain the bond debt responsibilities. At the time SUBJECT: TRANSFER OF COURT FACILITIES TO STATE OF CALIFORNIA PURSUANT TO TRIAL COURT FACILITIES ACT OF 2002 (SB 1732)(T00030) (DISTRICTS: ALL) DATE: December 16, 2008 PAGE: 6 of 7 the transfer documents are executed, four of the buildings being transferred presumably will be subject to bonded indebtedness: Juvenile Court, Bray, Jail/Annex and the Health Center building in Martinez. The Act also requires that, if the AOC is required to vacate an encumbered building due to the enforcement of provisions of the bond documents, the County must provide the AOC with substitute suitable and necessary court facilities. The County cannot execute the.transfer documents for these facilities without the prior consent of the Bond Insurer. Therefore, staff recommends that the Board's authorizations, as the Board and as the governing body of the Authority,be conditioned upon the prior consent of the Bond Insurer. Post-Transfer Liabilities In addition to the seismic liability retention; and the CFP and debt retirement obligations, the County will have additional post-transfer liabilities that are reflected in the transfer documents. Most notable among those are the following: • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. sections 9601, et seq. (CERCLA). CERCLA is a body of federal law allocating responsibilities for costs associated with the clean-up of hazardous material released into the environment. The Act requires, as a condition of court transfers, that the County defend, indemnify and hold harmless the State from any post-transfer CERCLA liability imposed on the State that arises out of conditions existing on the properties at the time of transfer, whether or not known to the County. • Third-Party Liabilities and Personal Property Losses. In shared-use buildings and campuses, each party bears 100% liability for damages and losses occurring in their exclusive-use areas, except to the extent the loss results from the negligence or willful misconduct of an employee of the other party. Liabilities for damages and losses occurring in the.common areas are borne proportionally in relation to each party's share of building occupancy. (As noted above, these sharing concepts are not applicable to seismic events during the requisite period.) • Property Casualties. Property casualties, other than those resulting from seismic events (explained above), are borne by the parties in relation to their share of occupancy. The parties will share the cost of premiums and deductibles, and any uninsured loss in relation to their share of occupancy. Transition Schedule Execution of transfer agreements prior to December 31, 2008 will allow the parties to meet the requirements of the Act and avoid additional CFP inflators. Additional actions are required to complete the transfer of titles and transition of responsibilities to the AOC. The key milestones for this transition to occur are: (1) approval of the CFPs by the State Department of Finance; (2) submission of fully executed Transfer Agreements and JOAs to the Administrative Office of SUBJECT: TRANSFER OF COURT FACILITIES TO STATE OF CALIFORNIA PURSUANT TO TRIAL COURT FACILITIES ACT OF 2002 (SB 1732)(T00030) (DISTRICTS: ALL) DATE: December 16, 2008 PAGE: 7 of 7 the Courts; (3) AOC submission of title transfers to PWB; (4) approval of the transfers by PWB; (5) record documents; (6) finalize schedule with State for handover of properties to the Facility Management Unit of the Judicial Council; (7) transfer maintenance documents, records and control codes; (8) complete turnover checklist activities, including coordination meetings, walk-throughs, and assignment of contracts; (9) establish procedures and protocols for communicating among maintenance staff, billing reviews, emergency call-out, etc. Actual handover of responsibilities for the properties will likely be phased in over a period of time to provide the State time to initiate maintenance contracts, train staff on the buildings, review operations and maintenance documentation, and coordinate activities with County staff. Environmental Statement As outlined above, the County proposes to transfer responsibility for, and in some cases title to, trial court facilities currently operating within the County to the State through the Judicial Council. The proposed action involves only a change in responsibility for operations of these existing public facilities with no change in the use or occupancy. As determined by the initial studies, it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity may have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, staff recommends that the Board find that the proposed transfers are categorically exempt from the provisions of CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3)because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the projects (the transfer of trial court facilities to the State with no change in use or occupancy of the facilities)may have a significant effect on the environment. CONSEQUENCES OF NEGATIVE ACTION If the transfer agreements are not approved by December 31, 2008, the annual CFPs that the County must pay will be subject to additional CFP inflators of approximately$37,500.00 per year. If the transfer agreements are not approved by December 31, 2009, the County will be unable to comply with the requirements of SB 1732 that require Counties to transfer responsibilities for all Court facilities by December 31, 2009. COUNTY.-OF CONTRA COSTA OFFICE OF THE COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR MEMORANDUM DATE: December 11, 2008 To: Board of SuyC ors FROM: Jason Crapo, Senior Deputy County Administrator SUBJECT: Documents for Transfer of Court Facilities (Item SD.8, December 16, 2008) Due to the voluminous nature of the documents related to the transfer of Court facilities, these documents are being made available on the internet rather than being included in your agenda packet. The documents can be viewed from the County home page at www.cccounty.us. Under the "Government" menu, select"County Administration", then"Court Transfers". This will take you to a list of facilities. Check on a facility to view a file containing the various transfer documents related to that facility. A single set of hard copies of the documents is also available at the Office of the Clerk of the Board at 651 Pine St., 1 st Floor, Martinez, CA. The phone number for the Clerk of the Board is (925) 335-1900.