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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Library Promotion Committee June 22, 2011ADJOURNED MEETING PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE APPROVED MINUTES Wednesday, June 22, 2011 — 3:00 p.m. Administrative Conference Room 73-510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, CA 92260 CALL TO ORDER Chairman Kermode called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Present: Member Joan Beasley Member Aaron Bonner Member Lois Cardona (arrived at 3:35 p.m.) Member Marilyn Hahn Chairman Louise Kermode Also Present: Absent: Member Ella Manor Vice Chair Bobbie Rosenberg Jean M. Benson, Mayor Rachelle D. Klassen, City Clerk Barbara Bowie, Desert Zone Manager, Riverside County Libraries Jeannie Kays, City Librarian Robin Stewart, Palm Desert Library Special Events Coordinator Eileen Strain, Palm Desert Library Volunteer Coordinator Mary P. LaCross, Recording S CiTY COUNCIL ACTION III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None Al'I'ROVED .._.._ DFNIFD RECEIVED It'/� OTHER MEETING DATE ic - q- 3L cI AYES: ', tf r i5 NOES: 0LUe ABSENT: _1 We—. A13STAIN: VERIFIED I3Y. k K r' t; Original on File with City Clerk's OdIce APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 IV. CONSENT CALENDAR A. MINUTES of the Palm Desert Library Promotion Committee Meeting of March 16, 2011. Rec: Approve as presented. Upon motion by Member Beasley, second by Member Bonner, the Minutes of the Library Promotion Committee meeting of March 16, 2011, were approved as presented by a 4-0 vote. V. NEW BUSINESS None VI. CONTINUED BUSINESS None VII. OLD BUSINESS A. UPDATE ON LIBRARY REFRESH PROJECT The following is a verbatim transcript of this portion of the meeting: Key LK Louise Kermode, Library Committee Chair SP Sergio Pena, Riverside County Economic Development Agency MH Marilyn Hahn, Library Committee Member RDK Rachelle D. Klassen, City Clerk JB Joan Beasley, Library Committee Member SR Steve Renew, Facilities Director, College of the Desert JK Jeannie Kays, City Librarian, Palm Desert Library JMB Mayor Jean M. Benson LK Old Business... Sergio? 04, APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 SP Thank you, everyone, for having me today. I think I've met everyone here, but just in case... MH Excuse me, is one of those microphones actually working? RDK No. We found that there was a short in one of the cables, unfortunately. MH Because I'm having trouble hearing you. RDK So we're going to have to speak ... make sure you project. SP I'll make sure I'll speak up, and if I ... if my voice lowers, feel free to stop me and say "Sergio, speak up." MH Okay. SP So...thank you again.... Sergio Pena, representing EDA, and I'm the Project Manager for the Library renovation. I have prepared a brief, one - page summary along with a schedule update. I'd like to pass that out. Has everyone received a copy? What I'd like to do is go through this in its entirety. I think you will have comments, there will be discussion, so I'm hoping to get through the breadth of my update and hopefully get to questions and answers, if that's okay. So, I'd like to start off with making general statements about how the State of California's budget affects both the County of Riverside Redevelopment Agency and the City of Palm Desert Redevelopment Agency. The Governor has proposed to abolish redevelopment altogether from the Health and Safety Code, and so the means by which funds are collected to fund projects like these are in jeopardy. And so the direction we've received from our management is to ... anything related to redevelopment has to be pushed through and try to be awarded before the end of June. The Governor's proposal states that any existing obligations or contracts through this current fiscal year will be honored and paid for. Anything past this fiscal year starting July 1st will be retroactively void and null. So, you know, those are our staff's marching orders. We have several projects that are (inaudible). So let's talk about how it affect specifically this project. This specific project is being paid for out of tax increment that has later been negotiated between the City and the County to have some pass -through funds given to the County. So technically, these aren't redevelopment monies. Technically, these are County monies being used for the renovation. And so there is the debate. We had an attorney take a look at the existing 3 APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 agreements, the creation of the redevelopment agency, the creation of the Library improvement district fund, and even with that analysis, we are still proceeding with trying to award by the end of June. So the debate ... it's somewhat ... at another level, we could have a different analysis, a different conclusion, (inaudible). So, we are still trying to save our project by trying to move forward as quickly as we can so that the contract can't be retroactively null and void. So I'd like to move into what has been done since the last time we spoke. The last time we spoke, I made mention of hey, we're going to get started with a lot of very technical engineering that needs to be taking place for this project, and that did take place. There were various consultants that came on board and started doing all the work... electrical consultants, mechanical consultants, plumbing consultants, structural consultants, furniture design consultants. And throughout that process, we arrived at the County Board of Supervisors actually approving the drawings and allowing us to solicit bids, and that was April 26th. So that wasn't very long ago. It did happen. So what happened during the bidding process? We had 20 contractors that attended the Job Walk, which isn't a tremendous amount, but it's a healthy amount. We actually had five bidders actually submit bids, anywhere ranging from $1.6 million up to $2.7 million. That's not a great spread or a great number of bids. Nonetheless, the low bidder --Sun Group out of Costa Mesa, who we've worked with in the past, they delivered a project for us out in Blythe, below budget and on time — is at our budget. Our budget was $1.7 million, and if you include their alternate, their bid is $1.73 million. We have the number two bid, who has actually requested relief and has put forward a letter withdrawing their bid. We are asking for backup information. We can't just accept the letter. We require proof that a clerical error was made in order to be able to allow them to withdraw their bid. And then last is Orr Builders out of Palm Desert, they're number three, and the submitted a bid of about $2.29 million. At this moment, I'd like to kind of shift over to the schedule, second page, and I apologize if it's small and hard to read. What I'll do is ... there is probably 140 different items that need to happen throughout the project. I've tried to remove all the ones that didn't apply, so I'll talk about the ones that I think are most important. LK Question. SP Yes. M APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 LK Is it obligatory to take the lowest bidder? SP Yes. So ... we got approval from the Board in late April to advertise for bids. That's about the time we should have submitted to DSA, the governing agency for the design and construction of any improvements at this particular Library. That did not happen, so (inaudible). I mentioned that we had several consultants come on board. One of them was a plumbing engineer. They had to conduct a fire flow test on the Library, as required by DSA. The findings for the fire flow test resulted that we did not have proper pressure in the building. So we kind of panicked, to be honest with you. We said how can that be? And we got in contact with the City about some alternative solutions to try and keep the schedule and still move forward. And at that time, they recommended we get in touch with their Fire Marshal. So he got involved. And he checked the building, he checked the pressure at different places and found that our engineer did not conduct testing in certain areas that added to the pressure as required to the fire sprinklers. And so, at the end of the day, the severity of improvements that need to be met aren't as great as we originally thought. Nonetheless, it still (inaudible). So that's been the root cause of our delay. As of this week, we have received the College of the Desert's authorization to submit to DSA. Their architect of record has given authorization to submit to DSA. I have listed down general timeframes that DSA had given us in the past for their plan review process. It's about six weeks or 35 working days of bin time, approximately five days or one week for actual review time, and then we've given ourselves one month or 20 working days to actually turn around those comments and correct or revise the drawings accordingly. All in all, the delay is about 95 days, 95 work days, which is a good amount of time. So, what does that mean to the project, the funding and everything together? I'd like to point out (inaudible) page, we have "Contractor Procurement Acceleration #1" — when we originally presented a schedule to you, we had construction starting somewhere in September. We looked at different ways to be able to accelerate that, and so the intent was June 28th, next Tuesday. Contractually, we probably could have made that happen, but we don't have that piece of the approval. And when I say "probably," December is ... when we did the Notice of Intent to Award to the low bid contractor, they have to, in turn, turn around and generate agreements, notarized and executed by their governing board, have bonds generated by the surety company, and have insurance documents submitted to the County to essentially seal the contract and make it a binding contract. My last conversation with the contractor was that he would not be ready to have those documents submitted until the middle of next week. So, even then, we're still missing that June 29th. We did have a forceful conversation to 5 APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 try and expedite those documents (inaudible). So, I get down to "Contractor Procurement Acceleration No. 2"...this is heading down the path of submitting this week to DSA. So what's the soonest we could... essentially, with that delay by the contractor getting the contract in time, so we're scheduling July 26th. Nonetheless, we see that July 26th doesn't exactly jive with September 19th for DSA approval. So, essentially, we are kind of on hold until we get that DSA approval. Lastly, when does the Library plan to close? We have some programs that were conducted outside of the Library in anticipation of the renovation, and I was asked quite frequently, even today, when the Library is closing, is supposed to close, and I was in the middle of these conversations with DSA, these conversations with the architect, these conversations with the engineer, with the City, and I could not with good, wholehearted certainty, give that (inaudible). So my intent today was to essentially notify everyone involved (inaudible) certain level of understanding. Nonetheless, I had previously stated that we should probably hold off on announcing to the public closure of the Library until we receive executed agreements bey the contractor. So right now, I have that scheduled for September 20 h this year. What does that do to construction? We planned to do all of the construction during your low - use months so your Library services would be the least affected. Throughout, I think, the initial scope, the schedule (inaudible) was that we would finish around November/December of this year. You see that it's pushed out ever so slightly to January 20th of next year. So, we're trying to catch up on some time. I can only apologize for the circumstances that we couldn't keep this on schedule. So at this point, I'd like to kind of conclude with what we have left in front of us. Besides the contract with DSA, we also have a contract out for bid for the furnishings that is due on the 30th of June. Other items we have a contract for are the movers to relocate the Library to the Palm Desert Sheriff Station which, by the way, thank you. I think we were able to reach agreement with the City. The schedule for the work to be done for the College of the Desert side of the Library for the repaint and re -carpet ... we have that space estimated (inaudible) cost for that. They agreed it should happen, and I think that all that's left is putting down an agreement for how the reimbursement takes place. Redistribution of the existing furnishings to outlying libraries in communities that need them. And finally, surplus for any of those goods that can't be used in other libraries. So, I do feel we've got the bulk of the work completed, maybe not to everyone's expectations, but I think at this time we'll open it up to questions. N APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JB The College of the Desert half is going to be done earlier? SP In terms of the re -carpet and repaint? JB Yes. J U N E 22, 2011 SP We have authority to award those contracts outright because we have group authorizations for the people doing them. Also, we have a gentleman joining us ... would you want to introduce yourself to the group? SR Sure, thank you. I'm Steve Renew. I'm the Facilities Director at the College of the Desert. SP And the reason I like to introduce him to answer these questions is ... when it comes to maintenance, replacement of (inaudible), I don't anticipate having to go the DSA, so Steve, can you confirm that? We don't need to go to DSA for repainting or re -carpeting of your space. SR That's true. SP So, we don't have the requirement to publicly solicit because we have group authorizations. JB So do you plan to move ahead with that? SP If we reach an agreement on the reimbursement, we can move ahead at any time they see fit. JK But that would be done at the same time as our carpet and paint. SP It doesn't necessarily have to... JK Or during the... JB You were going to try to do it during their down time in August, so ... Would that impact this movers business because their stuff would have to be moved out to do this? SP The contracts that we solicited for their re -carpet and repaint includes the moving in of their furnishings (inaudible). JB That would help a lot, wouldn't it, so the college could have (inaudible). 7 APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 SP Absolutely. We tried to (inaudible) JK My question is about making sure that we try to hit that June 30th deadline for the funds so we don't risk losing them. If the top bidder and the deadlines are passed, does that work? SP I don't have an answer to that. We're meeting with Sun Group tomorrow at one o'clock. Again, we'll leave the details up to your imagination, but we're trying to motivate them to submit all their documents. We have a noticing requirement to the public prior to putting something on the Agenda for execution, and the deadline is tomorrow. JK Because that would be a shame if they couldn't get their paperwork in or something, a technicality... SP I agree. Now, this is ... I'm not a redevelopment attorney, and actually I don't do a lot of redevelopment work, I do a lot of public works, so there are certain levels of thought. One is the existing cooperative agreement between the City, the County, and the College is an obligation (inaudible) bonds that were sold to finance these improvements (inaudible). So this contract is a third ... you see where I'm going with that? It could be just another obligation (inaudible) but I don't have a certain (inaudible) JB Who is the final body who gives final approval for... SIP For the contract? JB Yes. SP The County Board of Supervisors. JB So once it reaches them and they okay it, then you feel it will be safe? SP Absolutely. Unless the State comes in and... JB Well, don't say "unless"... SP Well, we hope not. We've been (inaudible) as you can see, April, late April, that authorization, bid opening on the 9t", on the 22nd, that's two weeks to go... JB So would it be risky if they approve it after July 1st? Would it be a risk to try and move ahead, thinking that the Governor, etc., might do something? APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 SP That's a tough, tough question. Has the County or City moved on projects that were later not reimbursed by the State? (inaudible) JB And we flip a coin? SP Our people will be determining that. Our management is getting those strict marching orders for a reason, and we want to see the City of Palm Desert improving its facilities and the County of Riverside improving its facilities (inaudible). I think what you're going to find is that (inaudible). We've already spent a good amount of (inaudible) to get this far (inaudible) JB So when you said that actually these are pass -through funds, it's not exactly the same as redevelopment. SP They're collected by redevelopment, but they're not used as redevelopment. JB So is that like an out? Is that a protection? SP I see it that way, and other people see it that way. And some of those people are people that (inaudible) JB (inaudible) more powerful. I understand. So we're going to have to hold our breaths and see what happens in Sacramento. LK Refresh my memory what DSA stands for. SP Division of the State Architect and State Fire Marshal. JMB How does that affect the programs in Westfield with the kids? Is that... JK We're moving along, having a good time. It's a win for the Mall. It's good for us, too. It's good exposure, good outreach. It's very quiet at the Library right now. People already think we're closed. We're open, come see us. So ... it's not devastating in any way, it's just different. BB How many did you have for the program today? JK We had 250 today, so I don't think it's hurting us at all. JMB At the Mall? M APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 JK At the Mall, right. And our numbers are up for Story Time and for our Teen Program. We usually have about 50 at the Teen Program, and yesterday we had 87, so that was good. JMB So when is our next newsletter to the community? RDK Well, it's July/August, but the deadline was last week, so I think we've missed that. But we do have an article that says "stay tuned," you know, follow us on Twitter, on Facebook. JMB But did we put in that where it's going? RDK I believe ... there've been press releases. You're going to stay at the Mall? Now that you're there, you're committed there. JK Yes. JMB I meant the Public Safety Building. Our Library, over here. RDK Well, we're just gonna' store our, the items there. JMB Oh. RDK We're also considering, and something about using our Bookmobile. I'm not sure if it's for public consumption yet, but we're also working on maybe a proposal to use the Bookmobile as an alternative. We don't have all the details worked out yet. JMB Oh, so the Public Safety is just going to be storage. RDK Yes, storage for all the materials. JMB Oh, okay. RDK In the basement. JMB Yeah. JK We will do what we can. We're flexible. LK Are there any other questions of Sergio? 10 APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 JB Is there a contact in Sacramento that you work with that you can kind of stay in touch with and find out how much negotiations are going for the redevelopment money? SP Sure. They are really not negotiations. It's rather unilateral. JMB We're all waiting. It's not just the Library. SP So ... I'd like to answer that, though. There's a website. It's called saveredevelopment.org, and the County of Riverside is going to join hands with a lot of other Inland Empire communities, desert communities, community associations, much like the California Redevelopment Association, to lobby (inaudible) local representatives to vote, because they're the people that voted that budget that (inaudible). So, that's where the influence should be given, and that's where we should probably lean on (inaudible). RDK We have a link ... I'm sure it's still there, I'm pretty sure it's still there ... the link on the City's own website about the issue of RDA and that's it's not resolved yet, so if you ... it's www.cityofpalmdesert.org ...there's still information on our own website that tells them about it. SP There's one big add -on to that ... so, both the House and the Senate voted for the budget (inaudible) abolished the redevelopment. The Governor later vetoed the budget. We don't know (inaudible) bills (inaudible). RDK It's our understanding they're still holding, the Governor's holding now. He vetoed the budget, but he's not ... he's holding on to those bills that abolish or do other things to RDA that significantly impact it, maybe doesn't abolish it but it's somewhat of a do or die. It doesn't abolish it outright, but ... that's our understanding. I participated in a webinar yesterday afternoon with the redevelopment ... California Redevelopment Association. Yeah, nobody was too smiley. They said it's all very ambiguous. It's all very up in the air. We don't... nobody's sure where this is going to land, but definitely everybody's jockeying and trying to advocate for preservation. SP So thank you for listening today. I know it's not great news, it's a mixed bag of news, some good, some mostly bad, but if you have any further questions or comments, Jeannie and I speak daily (inaudible)... more often than most ... or Rachelle, I speak with Rachelle quite often, too. LK Thank you very much. is] APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 Vlll. REPORTS AND REMARKS A. Council Liaison (Mayor Jean Benson) None Note: Member Cardona arrived at 3:35 p.m. B. Librarian (Jeannie Kays) Ms. Kays noted she would have statistics for the next meeting. She distributed copies of the brochure for the 2011 Summer Reading Program with the theme, "One World, Many Stories." She noted that, in April, Westfield Palm Desert Marketing Director Jenna LeMaster contacted her. She said the Mail was trying to do some youth programming during the summer and wondered if it was possible to have brochures on display at the Library and whether Jeannie knew of any performers. Jeannie responded that she had a whole lineup of performers, and the Library was looking for space. The two decided to partner, with Westfield to do some advertising for the program and supplement the schedule. There are now five days of programming, with the Library doing Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and the Mall doing Monday and Friday each week. The space where the programs are taking place is on the lower level next to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and it is also the place where the Marketplace is held each weekend. She said the entire summer youth program would take place at Westfield Palm Desert, and so far, there has been really good turnout. She added that one of the teen girls came up with the name, "Mallbrary." Ms. Kays added that numerous merchants had generously donated items to the program, including Target, Best Buy, Pat & Oscar's, Togo's, Rubio's, Auntie Anne's Pretzels, Alkobar, Tony Roma's, Beach House Frozen Yogurt, Hometown Buffet, Palm Springs Power Baseball Team, Record Alley, Island's Burgers, The Living Desert, and others. Ms. Kays also noted that staff and volunteers were in the process of putting RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags in the books now so that when the Library remodel is completed, the books will already be tagged and ready for patrons to check out. 12 APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 C. Special Events Coordinator (Robin Stewart) Ms. Stewart noted Teen Chefs were being done again this season but in limited number because the space at Westfield does not have a kitchen or running water. Last week's program was Tim Wilcox from Thunderbird, and tomorrow would be Kieran Fleming from Agua Caliente. She said she was currently booking the Sunday Sounds and the chefs for the season (October through February or March). She noted Chef Hector at Ruth's Chris would open the season. She also had had a conversation with a representative of the Gay Caballeros from Palm Springs, and she was hoping to book that group. Other possible participants included the Palm Desert High School Jazz Band, the Steel Band, and Julie Roger (sp?). Mayor Benson asked if there was any way for The Friends of the Palm Desert Library to sell books at Westfield during the summer. Member Beasley responded that this would probably not be possible, since Westfield already has a book store as a tenant. Ms. Bowie stated that she would not want to step on any toes. Mayor Benson added that these books would not be something people would purchase at Barnes & Noble. Ms. Kays reported that the Library was having a "Harry Potter Party" at 2pm on Thursday, July 14tn D. Volunteer Coordinator (Eileen Strain) Ms. Strain reported on the following for May: Volunteers: 55 Volunteer Hours: 461 Homebound: 5 Visits: 6 Items delivered: 27 She noted that these figures usually go down as we get into the summer months. 13 APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 E. Friends of the Palm Desert Library (Joan Beasley) Ms. Beasley said Ms. Kays suggested a huge blowout sale just prior to closure of the Library for the renovation to reduce the number of items that will need to be stored; however on-line book sales would continue during renovation. She reported that at the County Free Library Advisory Committee (CFLAC) meeting in April, Mark Smith provided a report regarding the budget problems and said the cut to Library funding at the State level was approximately 65% across the State. Several programs were cut out entirely, including the project "Read With Me," which got its funding from the 1st Five Act. For Riverside County, the amount lost was $33 million. She added that LSSI was able to place all of its staff members so that no positions were lost. F. Budget Subcommittee (Ella Manor/Bobbie Rosenberg) Mrs. Klassen reported that the Palm Desert City Council would be considering the proposed 2011/2012 Fiscal Year Budget at its meeting tomorrow, June 23, 2011. She added that there were no changes to the Library budget as proposed. G. Committee Chair (Louise Kermode) None H. Committee Members Ms. Bowie said it was so exciting yesterday, when she walked around the Mall after the program, to see so many children holding bags from the summer reading program and moms with flyers in their hands. She said there were more children enrolling this year than she could ever remember seeing in the past. Mayor Benson suggested that perhaps a presentation could be made at the August 26th City Council to honor Westfield and thank them for their participation. 14 APPROVED MINUTES ADJOURNED PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 22, 2011 Staff None IX. ADJOURNMENT Member Beasley moved to adjourn the meeting at 4:00 p.m. Motion was seconded by Member Hahn and carried by a 5-0 vote of the Committee. r Mary P. L Cros , Recording Secretary 15