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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAG Center Building Discussion 04-10-97AG CENTER BUILDING DISCUSSION April 10, 1997 The third project planning meeting was held at the Ag Center in Baldwin beginning at 11:00 AM. Those in attendance for all or part of the meeting were Tom Dorsey, Leon Berenschot, Brian Larson, Kim Reaman, Dave Sander, Dick Gade, Linda Paul, Ida Moltzen, Don Siler, John Krizek, Ralph Robole and Rich Loney, who served as recording secretary. Noting that there have been discussions as to whether or not the Village will move to complete sale of the land to Wayne Peters, Krizek said that, at the Baldwin Village Board meeting held the previous evening, the Board unanimously moved to sell the site currently under consideration. Beaman questioned the total assignable square footage of the structure as shown on the revised plan. Larson said areas such as corridors, bathrooms, janitorial, etc., do not figure in the total assigned number and suggested focusing on the room/area sizes rather than total square footage. Regarding the LCD/UW-X open area, Beaman said she feels there needs to be some type of divider separating the departments because of their different missions and clientele served. Krizek discussed, in particular, a panel system produced by Dow -Craft. Loney expanded on this, noting that the product is available in various widths and heights, including floor to ceiling, is avail- able in fabric or vinyl -type coverings, features steel structure and filling to aid in soundproofing and will accept a variety of hanging work aids, including overhead storage, file storage, work surfaces, book shelves,.etc. The further advantage of this is that it is so flexible in terms of office design and future remodeling. The flow of traffic in the areas was also discussed. Dorsey said he did not feel there would be a problem in directing people from a central reception, noting that, once people begin coming to the facility and become familiar with it, they will know where to go on future visits without direction. Discussion followed on changing locations of the ETN room and audio-visual storage areas. LCD and UW-X storage was discussed. Robole and Krizek reviewed their ideas on the plan, including: 1) locating room and folding door storage for the meeting room in the back rather than by the main access doors and 2) office sizes. Krizek said he felt the privacy issue may be exaggerated and that all individual offices should be looked at more closely from both the standpoints of need and size. He questioned the need for privacy in the individual offices planned for the wa- tershed employees. Dorsey expressed the need to provide good, efficient, workable space in all areas of the building. Larson said the number and size of individual offices needs to be reconciled. Dorsey said he has a great deal of faith in the Judgment of Robole and felt the offices should be sized to effi- ciency, particularly with plans to furnish the offices and cubi- cle areas with state of the art office equipment. Reaman said that, this being the case, consideration could be given to reduc- ing the UW-X offices from 168 sq. ft. to 150 sq. ft. April 10, 1997 Page 2 Berenschot asked if consideration was being given to housing other departments in the building, to which Krizek responded perhaps Economic Development. Siler said that issues such as line of sight and noise need to be addressed in the open office areas. Larson felt the number of offices in the LCD area need to be addressed and suggested looking at a standard of whether or not the occupant may meet with staff on a confidential basis. Loney suggested looking at less individual offices and more conference room -type space. Sander said he felt the engineering design room should be moved to a more central area. In response to a ques- tion from Loney, he said he felt the room was small at a planned 120 sq. ft. The number and size of individual offices in the LCD area was discussed at length with numerous points of view offered from both sides of the issue. Noting that the Federal agency em- ployees work mainly in open areas, Dorsey said he could agree with one office here for the department head. Discussion moved as to how best to accomplish this. Loney suggested perhaps a site visit for staff to view different options available in the area of acoustical panels. Larsen said Ayres is very open to this and offered a tour of their facility in Eau Claire. After further lengthy discussion, Larson said his meeting notes show one private office in the LCD area with all others moving to the open area, then one or two conference rooms planned in this area. Krizek questioned the need of a private office for the part-time nutrition educator position. Reaman said there is a privacy issue here in that low income individuals discuss their needs. Krizek suggested looking at similar business being transacted in the Health & Human Services area, noting .that so much of this work, very similar in nature to that being discussed, is handled in cubicle areas. Dorsey said he felt privacy may be an issue here to which Reaman agreed. Krizek said he felt we should be looking at maximum long term flexibility in design of the structure and would like to see the use of movable partitions wherever possible. Larson commented that, even if there were no initial cost difference between fixed and movable walls, it's a real advantage to have the flexibility partitions afford. On a personal note, Berenschot said that his business had remo- deled with open areas being used by individuals often involved in confidential conversations and that, if properly configured, this type of solution offers no problem with confidentiality and really eases when remodeling. Reaman again reiterated her belief that this really is a confidential position and needs the priva- cy. Krizek said it seems this is very close to work accomplished in some divisions of Health & Human Services and they, with the same level of confidentiality, do not have private offices. More discussion followed with differing points of view. April 10, 1997 Page 3 Dorsey expressed the need to settle the issue for this one office and asked Berenschot, as a member of the Resource and Education Committee, his opinion. Berenschot responded that, if the area is properly secure from a confidentiality point of view, he would probably recommend going with work area located in the open area. Gade discussed the need to re -work and re -size certain areas of the Federal area of the building, noting the need to share confi- dential areas and the mail room, resulting in these areas being located on a corridor. Plans are to go with two bathrooms, each with three sinks and three toilets, a change from the original plan which would therefore result in a reduction of $.05 per square foot in the Federal lease cost. Further discussion followed on building flexibility and the desire to design the structure with an eye to possible future expansion of offices and how this could best be accomplished if and when that time ever arrived. Plans are "to locate vending machines in the lunch room. This will be a smoke free facility and Gade noted that he believed current Federal guidelines called for no smoking within one hundred feet of Federal buildings. Location of the building on the site was discussed with Larson saying we need to look at the topography of the land before making that decision. Paul said she had reviewed equipment specifications and that a climate controlled room for their data processing equipment is not necessary nor is wiring an issue. Noting that the Federal agencies have agreed to install the phone system and communica- tions wiring in the building, Loney asked if they would partici- pate at a given level in the cost of these two areas of the project if the County wanted to install equipment which exceeded the Federal specifications. For example, if, say, the Federal agencies had determined that wiring to meet their specifications would cost $25,000 but the County wanted a higher grade of pro- duct costing $30,000, would there be any problem with the Federal agencies paying for all but $5,000 of the installation? Gade is to check on this. Larson said he would re -work the plans and forward revisions as soon as possible. The next meeting is planned for 10:00 AM, Wednesday, April 16th in Baldwin. Richard Loney Recording Secretary