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Police rental get more costly, city says

·  RICHMOND: Move from old Hall of Justice building will cost twice as much and take longer, officials say

By Karl Fischer and John Geluardi

CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Contra Costa Times

Article Launched:06/02/2007 03:04:14 AM PDT

A temporary move to get city police out of the decrepit, moldy Hall of Justice building will cost twice as much and take much longer than estimated in October, Richmond leaders say.

The hang-ups mean officers now can expect to move into a rental property near the Richmond Marina beginning in August, if the current projection holds true.

And the cost of making part of the DiCon Fiberoptics building on Regatta Boulevard police-habitable has jumped from a tentative estimate of $2.9 million to about $6 million.

"I wouldn't want to work in a building that looks like that, smells and has a mold problem," City Councilman John Marquez said. "If we have to spend a little more money for the safety of our employees, we should do it because it's our responsibility."

Councilman Tom Butt, who opposed moving police into a rental property since the city began considering it during the summer, said the city sold taxpayers one project, then began a much larger one.

"The City is paying DiCon $1.85 per square foot for the space, which is top dollar in today's economy, but getting no contribution from DiCon for the cost of tenant improvements," Butt wrote in a recent post to his e-mail forum. "This might have been reasonable for a three-year tenancy, but now DiCon is making out like a bandit, and the taxpayers are being taken to the cleaners."

Police managers, who are working with the city redevelopment agency, contractors and consultants, say the project fell victim to unanticipated costs from technical specifications legally required for modern police buildings and jail facilities but also from changes in other city plans.

Plans to rent a temporary headquarters for police began last spring as a stop-gap measure to appease department employees after several dozen complained of health problems related to working in the 1950s-era Hall of Justice building, where profuse leaks led to seasonal mold and standing water in the basement, where court evidence is stored.

At the time, the city planned to break ground in early 2007 on a new public safety building downtown as part of its massive Civic Center redevelopment project. But after the initial cost estimates for the move were supplied in the fall, the city shifted the public safety building to a later, unfunded phase of the project.

"It definitely has an effect on morale. We tell our people that the move will happen by a certain date, and then something comes up, and it doesn't happen," deputy police chief Ed Medina said. "And when we were bringing in potential new employees, one of our selling points was, 'Hey, in a couple years, we're going to have a new building.'"

Because the department plans to stay longer in the rental, one-time costs for upgrading the property also leapt. The rental property needed a more complete jail facility as a result, including a sally port and concrete driveway.

"Even the paved driveway we're putting in will have to be removed and restored to a sidewalk when we move out," City Manager Bill Lindsay said.

Some special construction includes $336,000 for secured spaces including interview and evidence rooms, $275,000 for special paving and concrete curbs and $107,000 for jail cell plumbing.

About $1.1 million will be spent on items that can be moved to the new police department once it is built. They include $205,000 for modular jail cells, $295,000 for duty lockers and $155, 000 for "space saver shelving," used in evidence rooms, according to the consultant's report.

The city began paying rent to inhabit approximately half the DiCon building in December. Rent will cost about $1 million annually, but police will not begin moving in until mid-August.

That's because the redevelopment agency, which already had hired a contractor to renovate the space, had to stop and rebid the work this spring after Butt questioned the legality of bidding practices used on a different city project.

Because the city used a similar method for bidding the work on the police project, it had to stop and bid it again. The new bidding process has not yet ended, Medina said.

If the current schedule holds, police will move their evidence and property rooms to 1689 Regatta Blvd. in mid-August, and the bulk of employees will soon follow. The move should end around October, Medina said.

Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@cctimes.com. Reach John Geluardi at 510-262-2787 or jgeluardi@cctimes.com.