BOHICA: Bend Over Here It Comes Again

We at the Tazer want to believe Chief Magnus and City Manager Lindsay about this move, but we're still worried that it will impede RPD service, and will cost the city money that could be (or could have been) better spent...

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Police department to relocate
RICHMOND: City Council votes 8-1 to move force out of Hall of Justice, citing mold and flooding concerns

By Karl Fischer and John Geluardi
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Spurred by reports of seasonal flooding, mold infestation and other grotesque conditions, the Richmond City Council has voted to move its police force out of the decrepit Hall of Justice building.

Police headquarters most likely will shift to the same industrial area near the city marina now occupied by City Hall, which vacated its Civic Center Plaza building in 2003 over seismic safety concerns.

Logistics prohibit a move before January, meaning officers and the public will spend one more dirty, leaky winter in the 57-year-old building.

Council members regretted such an expensive solution -- early estimates peg rent and moving costs at $5.6 million -- but said they had no choice.

"We have to look at what's more important," Mayor Irma Anderson said. "Life or the almighty dollar."

The council voted 8-1 in favor of the move Tuesday, with Councilman Tom Butt dissenting. Butt, an architect, said the city did not do enough to learn about the building's flaws or about the health risks associated with mold there.

"I do not think there is enough valid information to make a $10 million decision," he said Wednesday. "And I don't think there's much value in making that decision now."

With the same vote, the council agreed to focus lease negotiations for the department's temporary digs on a Regatta Boulevard property owned by DiCon Fiberoptics Inc. The department would occupy about half the company's 100,000-square-foot building.

If those talks resolve, police will follow City Hall out of Richmond's residential core into a remote, unpopulated area on the southern edge of the city, separated from most neighborhoods by railroad tracks.

Renovation and retrofitting of Civic Center Plaza begins next year, and plans include construction of a new police building that could be ready by 2009. The current Hall of Justice will be renovated for use by city government.

"I don't think this changes the fundamental way we are policing the community. We are firmly committed to a geographic model, with officers patrolling in every neighborhood in the city," Police Chief Chris Magnus said. "(The move) will not have much impact on our deployment."

Moving the department also would prove less expensive than keeping it in the building during renovation, according to a cost analysis provided to the council by City Manager Bill Lindsay.

Lindsay's staff hired several consultants to study the Hall of Justice since April, when about 30 police employees filed workers' compensation claims protesting their daily exposure to mold and asbestos.

Workers supplied hundreds of photos showing copious mold growing throughout the building during the rainy season, when a leaky roof and walls allow water to trickle down to the basement, which floods as much as 12 inches in a property vault that contains drugs, blood evidence and other potential hazards.

Past police administrations downplayed the problems, and several council members have said they were not aware of the extent of the problems until this year.

"I can't envision any case in which we would put employee safety behind cost," Councilman John Marquez said. "I've seen the inside of that building, and nobody should be working in there."

While the city's insurer has paid no claims to date, the city did respond with environmental tests within the building. In June, a consultant found high levels of mold, unhealthy but not acutely toxic.

An environmental health specialist recommended the city make immediate repairs or move the department before winter.

Moving police to a rental property on a three-year lease and repairing the vacant Hall of Justice will cost about $9 million, according to city estimates. Repairing the Hall piecemeal while rotating sections of the department through portable trailers would cost about $10 million.

Both estimates incorporated work from a previous consultant, who did not open walls and cautioned that costs could rise if hidden complications arise.

The $9 million estimate also assumes a three-year, $3.4 million lease and $3.5 million in actual repair costs. The repair costs include a 20 percent contingency cost.

The $10 million estimate includes $2.6 million for portable trailers, $3.9 million for actual repair costs and about $3.5 million worth of projections for contingencies -- about 78 percent -- owing to the complexities of working in an inhabited building, Assistant City Manager Janet Schneider said.

The department will move in phases, Magnus said, but most workers will relocate by January. A consultant at the council meeting, meanwhile, estimated the move would happen in March.

"Our personnel are very motivated to get out of this building. There really are health and safety concerns, not to mention it's a horrible work environment," Magnus said. "My employees will do everything possible to facilitate a rapid departure."

Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@cctimes.com.

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The whole Civic Center area could use attention, but bad finances and City Hall ops moving in 2003 seem to have put it on the back burner. Unfortunately, this means that the city is still paying rent at Marina Bay, RPD will have to start doing the same, AND we don't see a permanent solution in this.

For his opposition, we're curious to know what Tom Butt's solution would be. To Mr. Butt and any concerned Richmond resident, the Tazer stands ready if you wish to opine.