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Over the last several months, the County has been working to update its Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), the document that will guide future investments in County facilities. Why have a CIP? There are two key reasons: it’s a tool that can help us reduce long-term costs associated with building operations and maintenance, and it creates predictability in budgeting for and managing buildings. In this article, I’ll describe the process we’re undertaking, the timeline for the project, and the ways that you can learn about recommended improvements and provide feedback before the CIP is finalized.
The process began last winter with a solicitation of proposals from architectural and engineering firms to assist in data collection and plan development. The County’s Budget and Facilities Advisory Committee, a group of residents representing each of the five commission districts, reviewed the five proposals that were received and recommended the selection of CR-BPS to the County Board. The firm provided the proposal that best aligned with the County’s needs, and the County had had a very positive prior experience with CR-BPS, which oversaw improvements to the YMCA natatorium after the pandemic started.
The first phase of the project occurred this summer when County staff gathered what architectural drawings and floor plans were available to facilitate the development of 3-D models of all County-owned buildings. While most of the larger buildings had some documentation, a number of smaller ones did not. CR-BPS then performed walk-through tours of the buildings to confirm the accuracy of drawings, make needed changes to the models, gather measurements of buildings for which plans were not available, and inventory all building mechanical systems, fixtures and finishes.
The information gathering is now largely completed, and CR-BPS is working to incorporate it into the building models. The next step will be to identify the areas of greatest need across the County’s portfolio of buildings. There are many examples of deferred maintenance and equipment that has continued to run well beyond its intended lifetime. For our maintenance staff, who do a great job keeping building systems running, this has created an environment where things can fail suddenly and equipment must be repaired or replaced on short notice, often at greater expense than would have been the case if the replacement had been planned. Assessing all our systems, identifying those that are at the greatest risk of failing, establishing equipment replacement schedules, and creating a financial plan for making needed improvements will enable us to move toward a more proactive approach to managing our buildings. As we do so, we will be better able to minimize not only the up-front costs of capital improvements, but the long-term operating costs that generally dwarf those incurred in the short term.
The CIP will provide not only a plan for managing what we have but also recommendations about how to respond to the accelerated growth in the county’s population. Two of the County’s main buildings – the Courthouse and the Law Enforcement Center (LEC) – lack the space to accommodate current operations. As an example, the sallyport, or garage bay, at the LEC was built too small to accommodate the patrol vehicles that the Sheriff ’s Office now uses. In the Courthouse, we are doubling or tripling up staff in office spaces that were only intended to accommodate one or two. These deficiencies hinder our ability to provide the level of service that county residents expect and deserve, and in some cases, can even pose health and safety risks.
Once we have a set of preliminary recommendations, we will seek your input in two ways. First, there will be two open houses where a summary of the work to date will be presented and where you will have a chance to review the information that has been gathered. I and our consultants from CR-BPS will be present to answer your questions and to get your feedback on how investments in the CIP should be prioritized. These are tentatively expected to be held in late November or early December. For those who are unable to attend the open house meetings, we will post informational materials on the County’s website and provide an electronic form through which residents can provide feedback. Dates and locations of the open house meetings and the URL for the CIP information page will be shared through local print and broadcast media, social media, and the County’s website. All the feedback that we collect will be shared with the County Board before the CIP is finalized and the Board is asked to approve it.
If you’ve read this far, I want to thank you for your time and consideration. As always, I welcome your thoughts and invite you to contact me at 218-387-3687 or james.joerke@co.cook.mn.us.
County Connections is a column on timely topics and service information from your Cook County government. Cook County – Supporting Community Through Quality Public Service.
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