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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-27-1999 Meeting I PUBLIC SAFETY COWIMITTEE COMNITTTEE ROOM - September 27,1999 3:30 p.m. PRESENT: B. Young, Mayor, F. Handy, Chairman. B. Kuhlke, W. Mays, S. Shepard. members; R. Colclough, Commissioner; R. Acree, Facilities Manager, G. Sams, Purchasing Director; R. Oliver. Administrator; J. Wall, Attorney; J. Long, Attorney; Judge Wm. Fleming; S. Walker, L&I, L. Bonner, Clerk of Commission. ALSO PRESENT: S. Cooper, Augusta Chronicle, T. Cox, Augusta Focus, R. Jones, Metro Spirit. Approval of Purchase of Services Grant between Augusta Richmond County and Council of Juvenile Court Judges for juvenile offenders. !vIr. Oliver: This is one thar we have approved for the last several years. Mr. Shepard: So move. !vIr. Mays: Second. Motion carried unanimously. I Discuss additional space for the Law Library. I !vIr. Long: The Law Library Committee is a committee established by Stare law in each counry. You have the Chief Superior Judge, State Court Judge. Judge of the Probate, Solicitor of State Court, and two members of the Bar that are appointed. AIl the funding for the Law Library comes from case filings. You are required by State Law to provide adequate space, light and heat, all other expenses for books, etc. This is not a counry funded item all we need is space. The library is open to the generai public it is also used by Augusta College. We have had no growth in space since this building was completed over forty years ago. We have pushed the shelves as close as we could to allow wheelchair access. We've added more shelves, we have books on top of everything. We now have books in the windowsills, on top of the shelves, in boxes and we desperately need space. I believe there has been some proposal just to give us two rooms, one that is used by the Jury Clerk, also by the Jury Commission. Ifwe are only given those two rooms, we are merely going to pick up and take care of space that houses books right now. At the growth we have, we will be out of there before we move in there. In addition to more book space, we have tables that seat a total of twelve people. It makes logical sense to go ahead now and give the Law Library not only the Jury Clerks room but also the area on the ninth floor which is on the southeast part of the building where the city computer room was located. We have in Augusta the best Law Library of any county in the state. This library is too valuable an asset to our community not to have proper space. I ask that you all recommend to the full Commission that we be given not only the Jury Clerks two rooms but also the rest of the space on the ninth noor. Mr, Oliver: Let me set the background for the various moves so that everybody is at the same place. The State Probation people are moving out and their schedule is more I aggressive that I think they are going to make. But they indicated that they would be out by the firs! of October and I don't think they're quite going to make that. But ultimately, they are going to move out probably sometime in October. At that particular point, the annex is going to become open at the end of that and we are going to move Indigent DefetlSe into the end of the annex. Because, as you recall as part of the space study, the most immediate, critical need that was identified was in the DA's office and in Indigent Defense and in the Solicitors Victim Assistance program, There is also sufficient space down there to move the GIS people that are on the ninth floor into this space and that will make them immediately adjacent to the computer people which we think makes a lot of sense. Currently, the AS400 is still up on the ninth floor and the AS400 will be on the ninth floor until 12/31/99 in our opinion and at that point it will not operate. We anticipate at this point, it will be late in the year until its up there. That piece of equipment does generate some noise. We agree that the Law Library needs some space. I think where there is a professional difference is perhaps, we believe and I think it was agreed to by the Judge and by ;'vIr. Long that for a year or two, what we were proposing would meet that particular need but in five years, clearly it would not. .A.nd the answer to the total decision is to make a decision on the long-term space needs of the counry and proceed with it. We have proposed to move the Jury Clerk down to ?vir. Acree's office on the second floor and that would free up and move the Law Librarian over to where the Jury Clerk is and open that all up for the Law Library. The space on the end of the hall is a pretty good size for just two offices but !vir. Acree has four people that are kind of pm I over three different locations and we think putting him up there on an interim basis makes some element of sense to consolidate that operation. Mr. Long: If that space was made available 12/31, we would have it occupied within a week or two. We are that desperare for space. Ifwe just had the Jury Clerk are~ today, we would be out of space today. That is not adequate space for us and I think somebody needs to find another place to put NIr. Acree and his staff other than up there on an interim basis. I believe we are destroying one of~ best assets Richmond County has and this is not something that the Commission has to approve a budget item on, we just need space. !vIr. Oliver: Are you moving both the Law Librarian and the Jury Clerk down to that end under your proposal0 !vIr. Long: No sir. We are going to keep the Law Librarian up there. Under our proposal we're going to try and use that was some volume, also for computer research that we are going to put in. Ifwe have the space to day, we have the ability to go ahead and do that. We are behind doing what we need to do. And we're going to stop having the best law library in the state of Georgia, You have everybody else coming to you all asking for money on the budget, we don't ask for any money, it doesn't cost the tax- payers any money, except for the space. I I Mr. Shepard: What I would like to see Randy do is go back to the drawing board and try to put together a series of moves that would accommodate the additional space on the ninth floor, Ifhe would do that in another memo and bring it back to the next Committee meeting. Mr, Kuhlke: Second. I Nlr. Mays: I think that sometimes we need to realistically look at where we're going in its entirety and discuss what we're going to do about a state of the art judicial facility that can be located downtown in the presence of where you have a large portion of the legal community and the courts, right now, that would get us off of this whether we're going to Broad Street or Regency Mall. At the same time we've increased the jail space, we've done well on one part of what we deal with in terms of our whole law enforcement society. We have not dealt with what we need to do in terms of the courts, how we're dealing with the DA's siruation, the Solicitor's situation. I think you can pay for all the srudies you want to, but you have to in the final analysis be realistic about what will work, what can finally get it off square and talk with the people that are going to seriously have to do the management of those buildings. I still think its another idea out there some where. I think we need to sit down with the Chief Judge and others the District Attorney and the Solicitor. We need to seriously look at where downtown we can deal with an alternative that we can get this thing off square one, start looking at it and how we can plan for getting something built within the next twenty-four months to thirty-six months and move on with it. Motion carried unanimously. With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned. Lena J. Bonner Clerk of Commission /bb I I PUBLIC SAFETY AGENDA COMMITTEE ROOM - October 11, 1999 3:30 P. M. 1. Motion to approve agreement to deputize members of the Richmond County Board of Education Police Force. 2. Approve for the Augusta Richmond County Fire Department to be the primary emergency agency for extrication services within Augusta Richmond County. 3. Approve for the salaries of nine (9) Augusta Richmond Counry Fire Department Dispatchers to be paid from revenues generated from the special fee levied on cellular phones in Augusta Richmond County and direct corresponding decrease III expenses. 4. Approve hiring of one (I) Administrative Assistant for the Fire Department Training Division with the beginning salary to be $22,202.00. (Funded by extrication fees) 5. Approve a 30 month lease at $450 per month to purchase 10 ea. 8.8GB disk drives needed for HP VII. 6. Approve an expenditure of $23,800 for providing data communications and computer equipment to the Fire Department Training Division on Reynolds Street. I I I PUBLIC SAFETY AGENDA COMMITTEE ROOM - September 27, 1999 3:30 P. M. 1. Approval of Purchase of Services Grant between Augusta Richmond County and Council of Juvenile Court Judges for juvenile offenders. 2. Discuss additional space for the Law Library. I I