On Tuesday, the Brentwood City Council agreed to allocate up to $100k to develop a plan for re-purposing the Brentwood Education & Technology Center into a facility focused on youth programing and services.
This was approved in a 4-1 vote with Councilwoman Karen Rarey dissenting.
The item came before the council after the ad-hoc committee met on July 1 to set goals and determine the next steps. The committee asked staff to provide needs assessment data from previous Master Plan and Strategic Plan data; determine the annual building maintenance and utility costs; and inspect property and identify any potential repair projects.
The annual estimated cost to run the building if occupied is estimated at $250k and if unoccupied, would cost $125k. The building also has existing debt services requirements of approximately $246k.
Rarey said that while city was long overdue for a teen center she questioned the timing of it and the spending.
“We just had $4.1 million out of our budget and we are looking at cutting more out next year,” explained Rarey who questions that they still have not determined how its going to be paid and what services will need to be cut. “We need the answers before we spend $100k on architectural firm to create drawings of a facility. Once we find out how its going to be funded, then we can discuss spending $100k.”
Councilmember Johnny Rodriquez disagreed calling the timing both “good” and “bad” because right now they have a vacant building in the community that they need to clean up anyway calling it a win-win for youth, city and older part of the community.
“I think spending $100k for an architect for us to really figure out what the costs are is really the next step, it’s not really going into the debts of the costs of what its going to be to maintain” stated Rodriquez. “Right now, we are trying to figure out if we can do it… if we don’t spend $100k we will never know what it will actually cost to do this project.”
He called this a great opportunity for the entire community.
Councilwoman Claudette Staton said this would be uplifting to the community and something for them to be happy about.
Vice Mayor Joel Bryant called this an opportunity to reinvest in the youth of the community but warned the council to ensure seniors do not feel like an “either-or” situation when talking about the senior center improvements.
Rarey continued to argue they were going to have to possibly make cuts of up to $750k just to possibly fund the youth center all while people are wanting to fund fire service.
“People are going to say you have money to fund a teen center, but you don’t have any money to help pay for fire,” stated Rarey. “How can you continue to build in this town if you are not providing for fire protection services. That is why waiting at least a month to be able to find out from financial for what our current financial situation before we move forward on spending $100k on something we may not be able to afford the annual programing, staffing, bond payments.”
Rodriquez called it confusing to people when you throw out big numbers to make it seem bigger than what they were asking for.
“What we are really asking for is $100k to hire an architect to be able to give us an idea of what this project would actually look like,” stated Rodriquez. “We are not talking about $1.2 million, $500k, we are not talking about $700k, we are talking about hiring someone to come in and spend $100k to give us an idea of how we can invest in our young people. For me, this has been long overdue. I’ve been here my whole life and this is a great opportunity to show our youth that they are important too.”
Rodriquez continued saying it doesn’t obligate the city to build anything, but to take the time and effort that is overdue for years in this community to do their due diligence for families and young people.
“I’ll be honest with you, it would be one of the dumbest things we didn’t do if we didn’t embrace that,” stated Rodriquez. “At the end of the day, maybe it may be too much, but we are not even there yet.”
Mayor Bob Taylor stated he was not opposed to hiring an architect and when the time comes the council will figure out in terms of cost.
The council voted 4-1 to move forward with hiring an architect with Rarey being the dissenting vote.
According to the city:
Property Assessment: The Chief Building Official and other staff conducted a preliminary assessment of the building. It was determined that the HVAC units need to be replaced. The estimated replacement costs is$550,000 in the current building configuration. If the building layout is modified, these costs could increase due to additional ductwork. The facility will require accessibility improvements. Tenant improvements and accessibility improvement costs are estimated to cost approximately $400,000 (or more depending on the actual programming needs yet to be finalized). These costs are eligible expenses to be funded through the Facilities Replacement Fund.
The ad-hoc committee determined it was feasible to re-purpose the building for a focus on youth programming and services that will likely be phased over time. As part of their review, two scenarios were considered, including city operating or non-profit operating the youth center.
Staff Recommendation:
Staff recommends the Council provide direction to move forward with the further exploration of a youth center at the BETC, and next steps include:engaging with community stakeholders to address the community’s interest and programming needs; hiring an architect to review the facilities structure and potential renovations to maximize and customize the space and continuing the exploration of the most beneficial operational model including a City operational structure vs. and outside non-profit or public/private partnership.Staff recommends engaging an architectural firm in an amount not to exceed $100,000to create architectural drawings of facility renovations to accommodate the envisioned youth center.If authorization to proceed with further exploration is provided, staff would return to the City Council in early 2021 with a thorough operational and facility plan for consideration.
FISCAL IMPACT
Staff prepared the FY 2020/21 Operating Budget assuming the BETCwould only be occupied by REACH and Delta Community Services, who utilize a small portion of the facility. The estimated annual carrying cost of the facility is $371,000 supported by two funding sources detailed in the table below.
Two options to run the Youth Center were discussed with the ad-hoc committee. The first option called for a non-profit to operate the facility and programs as detailed in the table below. In the non-profit scenario, an additional $125,000 General Fund subsidy would be required,as the building would be fully occupied. This scenario assumes no operational costs of the facility would be borne by the non-profit. Any operational costs that were covered by the non-profit would offset the General Fund subsidy amount.
Concord’s Community Youth Center model charges $33 per month for each member and provides access to nearly a dozen recreational and educational programs. In addition to the membership revenue, foundation donations covered the remaining expenses that included staff and utility expenses. A similar financial model could work in Brentwood.
The second option would involve the City operating the facility and programs. In this scenario, there would be additional cost increases associated with the City staffing the facility. It is anticipated that membership and foundation revenues could offset a portion of the operating costs. However, an additional General Fund subsidy of $340,000 to $490,000 per year would be required.
Staff also highlighted that to become a Youth Center, up front set up costs are required, including a $550k HVAC system replacement. In addition, tenant and accessibility improvement costs are estimated to be approximately $400,000to accommodate certain recreational programming uses.
If the City Council directs the ad-hoc committee to continue to develop a plan for re-purposing the BETC, a budget amendment to the General Fund Operating Budget of $100,000 is recommended. The $100,000 would fund staff’s recommendation to execute an agreement with an architectural firm to create drawings of the facility to include renovations that would suit operations as a youth center.
1 comment
Rarey pandering for votes as usual. You are telling me she wants to spend money on food, but not youth services? She wants a tax for landscaping in Deer Ridge but nothing for the youth? One post on FB she is blasting ECV fire service tax only to the same night use fire service as a tool against youth service? This lady is all over the map. She is not fit to serve on the city council anymore.
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