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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 04191994 - IO.11 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE f \ Costa �. ¢ County March 28, 1994 DATE: SUBJECT: REPORT REGARDING THE STATUS OF DISCUSSIONS REGARDING LAW LIBRARY ISSUES SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION: 1 . ACCEPT the .attached report on the status of discussions between the Law Library Board of Trustees and County staff on the issues of the payment of occupancy and space costs and on the crediting of Law Library interest earnings . 2 . DIRECT County staff to continue to meet with the Law Library Board of Trustees to reach a solution which addresses the Law Library' s and the County' s concerns . 3 . DIRECT County staff to explore with the Law Library Board of Trustees the expansion needs of the Superior Court and the impact of these expansion needs upon the Law Library' s current space. 4 . DIRECT the County Administrator to report back to the Internal Operations Committee on these issues as soon as he is prepared to do so, but in no case later than December 12, 1994 . CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMI S T R RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER JEFF SMIT SUNNE WRIGHT McPEAK SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON April APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS Y 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. ATTESTED Contact: PHIL BATCHEL CLERK OF THE BOARD OF cc: See Page 2 SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR BY DEPUTY I .O.-11 -2- BACKGROUND: The Law Library Trustees brought two specific issues to the attention of the Internal Operations Committee in December, 1993 . At that time the County Administrator was asked to report these issues back to the Internal Operations Committee prior to April 1, 1994 . The two issues are whether interest earned on the funds deposited in the Law Library Trust Fund is to be deposited into the Trust Fund or into the General Fund and whether the Law Library is going to be charged "rent" on the space it occupies in the Bray Courthouse Annex. The issue here is whether the County has the right to charge rent and whether the County has any choice about whether to credit interest on the Trust Fund to the Trust Fund. The Law Library Trustees maintain the County cannot impose rental charges on the Law Library over the objections of the Trustees and that we have no choice but to credit the interest to the Trust Fund. On March 28, 1994, our Committee met with Carol Chan from the County Administrator' s Office and Jean Steffensen, the County' s Law Librarian. Ms . Chan reviewed the attached report with our Committee, which provides additional background on the status of discussions on these two issues . We are encouraged by the fact that discussions are proceeding between the Law Library Trustees and County staff and would like to provide an opportunity for those discussions to be concluded. Our Committee is set to meet with the Board of Supervisors ' appointees to the Law Library Board of Trustees in December. We need to have these issues resolved one way or the other and reported to us by no later than the time we meet with the Board' s appointees . cc: County Administrator Jean Steffensen, Law Librarian Kenneth J. Corcoran, Auditor-Controller Barton J. Gilbert, Director of General Services Victor J. Westman, County Counsel De Royce Bell, Deputy County Administrator-Capital Projects Tony Enea, Senior Deputy County Administrator George Roemer, Senior Deputy County Administrator TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra L`:. .,..: ... FROM: Costa PHIL BATCHELOR, COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR o*�� s BY: CAROL CHAN, CAPITAL FACILITIES ANALYST County r<r` DATE: MARCH 23, 1994 SUBJECT: LAW LIBRARY-OCCUPANCY AND SPACE COSTS; INTEREST EARNINGS; AND OTHER MATTERS SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS: 1 . ACCEPT this report on the status of discussions between the Law Library Board of Trustees and County staff on the issues of the payment of occupancy and space costs and credit of Law. Library interest earnings . 2 . DIRECT County staff to continue to meet with the Law Library Board of Trustees to reach a solution which addresses the Law Library' s and County' s concerns . 3 . DIRECT County staff to explore with the Law Library Board . of Trustees the expansion needs of Superior Court and impact upon the Law Library's current space. BACKGROUND: The County has requested that the Law Library pay for its share of occupancy costs for the Bray Courthouse and Richmond facilities and to make a finding to pay rent for the Bray Courthouse space. The County is required to provide space for the Law Library. The Law Library :. shall pay rent if the Trustees determine they have sufficient resources over and above that required for operation and maintenance of the Library. However, the County is not required to pay for the Law Library' s occupancy. costs - janitorial, utilities, maintenance, etc. The Trustees must authorize charges to the Law Library Trust Account, but are not required to make a finding to pay for these costs . CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON 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. ATTESTED Contact: PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF CC: SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR BY DEPUTY -2- The Law Library occupies 14 .3% of the Bray Courthouse and 2 . 9% of the Richmond Administration Building. Their share of the occupancy costs for both locations is as follows: Bray Courthouse Richmond Administration 1993/94 $38,852 $ 9,707 1992/93 37, 180 10,205 1991/92 37,949 13,237 1990/91 44,816 12,251 There is no debt service for the Richmond Administration Building. However, there is a substantial debt service for the Bray Courthouse. This debt service, as well as the debt service for other law and justice facilities was to be funded from the Courthouse and Criminal Justice Facilities Construction Funds . But there has been a dramatic decrease in revenues in both these funds over the past three years . During this fiscal year, a General Fund subsidy of approximately $700,000 is required to fund the debt service costs . The Law Library' s pro-rata share for the Bray Courthouse space cost is as follows: 93/94 $186,318 92/93 184,253 91/92 190,805 90/91 189,849 For fiscal years ending 1991 and 1992, the Law Library Trust account unencumbered fund balance totalled approximately $400,000 each year. For FY 1992/93, the unencumbered fund balance was $698,408 . The Auditor-Controller' s Office had estimated that interest earnings to be credited to the Law Library totalled approximately $22,000 annually. Cost details for the Bray Courthouse and Richmond facilities have been provided to the Law Library Board of Trustees . It is anticipated that County staff will meet with the Law Library Board of Trustees in April to resolve the issues of occupancy costs, space costs and credit of interest earnings . At that time, the expansion needs of Superior Court and impact upon the Law Library' s space at the Bray Courthouse will also be discussed. Contact: Carol Chan 646-1021 cc: Auditor-Controller County Counsel Law Library Board of Trustees Law Librarian George Roemer, Senior Deputy County Administrator De Royce Bell, Deputy County Administrator-Capital Projects