LAW ENFORCEMENT CENTER CONSTRUCT

LAW ENFORCEMENT CENTER CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Administrative Center – Room 3220

4:00 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT: Vicki Burke, Jim Berns (exc @5:15), Ray Ebert, Robert Erickson, Ann Fisher (exc @5:21), Maureen Freedland, Beverly Mach, John Medinger (exc @5:01), Tom Rauk, Sharon Hampson (arr @4:07)

MEMBERS EXCUSED: Joe Veenstra

MEMBERS ABSENT: None

STAFF & GUESTS: Steve O’Malley, Jim Speropulos, Gary Ingvalson, Paul Brummond, Mary Kaiser, Val Schute, Don Carlson, Mike Seichter, Doris Daggett, Jane Klekamp, Jerry Severson, Karl Green, James Poehling, Bev Heebsh, Cheryl Stephen

CALL TO ORDER

Committee Chair Vicki Burke called the meeting to order at 4:01 p.m.

PUBLIC COMMENT

None requested.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

MOTION by Fisher/Rauk to approve, as distributed, meeting minutes of May 15, 2008. Motion carried unanimously; Veenstra excused; Hampson absent.

UPDATE ON FLOOR PLAN FOR LEC ADDITION

Steve O’Malley noted this as informational only; no action needed today. There are a number of issues that need to be resolved as the Sheriff’s Dept. has not signed off on the construction plans.

Paul Brummond reviewed each of the latest floor plans, including the areas remaining unresolved. Highlights of his overview as follows:

Areas of recent review: door locks; doors made of wood vs. metal, which ones have sliders and those that do not, samples of glass; cameras, video and card readers (number one objective is security).
South door main entrance thru Security; visitors need to take a left and go down a ramp to enter the Justice Sanctions or jail visiting area; staffing Security after normal hours is the issue; jail visitation is in the evening and previously those visitors entered through a north door in a secure area. Visitation needs to be as flexible and accommodating while at the same time secure. The former north entrance will be used by staff only.
There is triple amount of visitation booths with some using video which will be more accessible. Supervisor Medinger suggested user friendly jail visitation area for the families, clergy and attorneys.
Looking at ways of making Justice Sanctions more efficient, including better signage.
Northwest corner of the addition is for the kitchen and laundry area which will be side by side with glass in the middle; this will allow for better supervision and allow for inmate labor. The north end will be the service part of the building.
Moving master control to the new booking area which will be more centrally located.
Met with Probation/Parole staff today regarding their office layout which includes 12,000 sq. ft. per state request. There is shelled space on the south end (above Justice Sanctions) and at the north end (above the kitchen) both of which will be used for future expansion. Also on first floor is space for mechanical and additional training rooms.

· Second floor includes the two direct supervision pods and each designed for 57; and third floor has 81 cells with 114 beds. Upon completion of the renovation and new addition, total jail beds will be 269.

Discussion followed. Supervisor Hampson asked if one of the new pods for direct supervision could be shelled space as a way of saving project cost as she’s concerned with the project exceeding $29.5 million. The answer was yes, but that it would cost 2-3 times more to do later; the CM will check on cost savings. Discussion on female inmates and where housed; the renovated area is designed for flexibility so as to house female or male inmates; this area has total of 39 beds. Additional discussion on visitation; noted currently jail visitation is Monday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. Supervisor Freedland requested any change in jail visitation policy to be shared with the committee. Steve pointed out that not only the Sheriff, but jail staff, Jail Inspector and the Judges are also involved in the jail visitation policy. Paul pointed out that video is used most often by other jails; there are some jails that use video only. Use of video for visitation is more convenient and more accessible.

The architects shared PDF images of the proposed building addition and internal areas – done via 3D modeling software program.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION RE: RETAIN OUTSIDE LEED CONSULTING SERVICES

Steve O’Malley noted that he has shared the Blue Earth scorecard and other information with the architect and construction manager in order for them to make comparisons; he then asked for comments from the project team. Don Carlson (CM) noted in the two comparisons, some additional LEED points were done by Blue Earth and the same for La Crosse County; one significant difference was in the optimized energy modeling; La Crosse County is lower in the baseline model. Val Schute (architect) concurred with the difference in optimized energy performance and the other difference was in the controlled ability of the lighting systems, and this is questionable for a jail situation; he also noted that Blue Earth had hired an energy group (The White Group) out of the Cities to run a sophisticated energy modeling – much more detailed than what Michaels Engineering was hired to do for the County. Steve said the question is, is there value in hiring an outside LEED consultant? Val noted that it seems like doubling of services though could be used for enhancement, in particular relating to energy modeling; ultimately, this will be a committee decision. In addition, he noted that Potter Lawson is waiting on the complete analysis from Michaels Engineering regarding the energy modeling; after reviewing this information, maybe additional LEED points could be achieved. Steve noted copies of the Blue Earth information available upon request.

NEXT MEETING

Tuesday, June 10^th at 4:00 p.m.

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION by Rauk/Hampson to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried unanimously; Veenstra, Medinger, Berns, and Fisher excused. The meeting adjourned at 5:31 p.m.

Disclaimer: The above minutes may be approved, amended or corrected at the next committee meeting.

Cheryl Stephen, Recorder