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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClallam County JPSF June 4, 2024Board of Clallam RECEIVEDC'unty Commissioners I UN 7 2024 CITY OF PORTANGEL.ES CITY CLERK MIKE FRENCH, District 3, Chair RANDY.70HNSON, District 1 MARK OZIAS, District 1 June 4, 2024 City of Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter City Manager Nathan West 321 E. 51h Street Port Angeles, WA 98362 Re: Joint Public Facility Project (JPSF) Dear Mayor Dexter & City Manager West: 223 East 4th Street, Suite 4 Port Angeles, WA 98362-3015 360.417.2233 Fax: 360.417.2493 Email: commissioners@clallamcountywa.aov TODD MIELKE, County Administrator We are writing today to formally request the removal of the City -desired fire station from the proposed Joint Public Safety Facility (JPSF) site. During the initial phase of this project, the inclusion of the fire station was a common goal. The County's position at that time was based on locating, and purchasing, a five -acre site. Unfortunately, a smaller parcel of land (3.6 acres) was ultimately all we could find that met the criteria needed. We believe the project objective is clear and best stated as: "The objective is to deliver to the citizens of Clallam County a fully functional, resilient joint emergency operations center that will house both emergency management and emergency communications, and will serve as a location to coordinate any response necessary for the well-being of its citizens. The facility will incorporate redundant infrastructure, be completed as soon as possible, and at the lowest possible cost to Clallam County citizens. " Anything that detracts from this objective jeopardizes the functionality of this facility — including a fire station. Resolution of this item now is critical — for purposes of planning, funding, and essential design elements. Now that we are in the detailed design phase of the project, our design team (OAC) has communicated concern over the functionality of this site to fully meet our project objective with inclusion of a co -located fire station. Those reasons include: • The space needed to accommodate both structures is logistically challenging, making placement of infrastructure more difficult. Costs are anticipated to be higher with the fire station due to the requirement of retaining walls where the site is not level, to fully utilize the site. Increased upfront costs to cover the installation of infrastructure for the fire station (which remains uncertain as to whether it will ever be built) at the beginning of the project prior to construction of other project features. There is no "extra" space to absorb any design modifications that require additional space, such as for communication towers, backup generators, fuel tanks, etc. There is doubt whether the site can pass a "stress test" to handle a catastrophic emergency response event due to no extra land being available to accommodate additional equipment, temporary structures, or future expansion of the JPSF. These concerns were not, and could not have been, anticipated prior to initiating the actual design of the JPSF. The County's concern over inclusion of the fire station was first raised at a meeting with the Mayor and senior City staff on March 15th when the County presented an offer to the City in an effort to expedite the completion of this project. This concern was clearly acknowledged at that meeting when City Manager West asked if removing the fire station would address some of the County's concerns. An additional concern raised by the County at that meeting was the need for a greater sense of urgency in completing this project and getting decisions and responses in a timely manner. Doing anything less would further delay the project and most likely make it impossible to meet the deadlines for the grants currently associated with this project. The concern over inclusion of the fire station and request for removal was reiterated at a meeting with the Mayor and senior City staff on April 9th, and again on May 2nd in a meeting between City Manager West and County Administrator Todd Mielke. In the May 2nd meeting, the City communicated it was pursuing a joint fire station with Fire District 2 on land that would potentially be donated by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. The fire station issue was raised again by the County during a May 9th in -person meeting with the design architect and senior staff from the County and City. At this meeting, OAC stated they needed a determination as soon as possible to incorporate in their current design efforts. They further stated that any design changes made after late June would result in additional design costs to the overall final design. Therefore, adjusting the final design to utilize the site differently (without the fire station) needs to happen well before the end of June. Finally, a response regarding the fire station was requested at a May loth meeting regarding the JPSF between senior staff of the County and City. In this final meeting, City staff indicated a desire for the County to provide further financial incentives' for the City to withdraw the fire station from the project. The County's initial communication of its concern over the removal of the fire station, the necessity of timely responses and decisions, and a higher sense of urgency was made on March 15th. It has been nearly 2 1/2 months and it appears we are no closer to resolution on these matters. The County believes the best path forward is for us to work together towards achieving the stated objective. However, without the removal of the fire station, the County's position is that we will not move to the construction phase. The current agreement between our two entities only takes us through the design phase. If we cannot find common ground on this issue, the County will be placed in a position to look at other options that include going forward alone and finding additional funding sources. As our design architect was hoping for a resolution of this item by now, timing is critical. We look forward to receiving a written response from you by Friday, June 21st, so that the design is consistent with the project objective. Sincerely, BOARD OF CLALLAM COUNTY COMMISSIONERS tiC �� el Mike French, Chair Randy Johnson Mark zias J:ApublicACorrespondenceAfrom BOCC\2024\F.merency Operation Center 6-4-24.docx