Minutes 04/23/1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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THURSDAY, APRIl, 23, 1998 Alternatives considered included an expansion of the Social Services Building and/or the use of adjacent buildings for some of the Police operations. Jim Strollo also pointed out that the inmate intake function now performed by the Police Department will occur within the new jail, eliminating the requirement for space for this activity in their department. Mr. Reeves pointed out that there are strong interrelationships among the corrections, law enforcement and justice functions that drive the entire process and needs being examined. Considerable discussion then followed among the Council and Messrs. Reeves and Sirotto concerning the various reloeation possibilities for all the functions being considered. Functionality, adjaceneies, security concerns and the practicality of what should remain in the Municipal Building were key topics of this discussion. Vice-Mayor Crabtree observed that the reality is that courts and court-related functions will ultimately displace other administrative functions in the Municipal Building. Mr. Reynolds agreed, stating that City Administration is now the "tenant that manages the building". He then stated that what needed to be accomplished at this time had been achieved in the discussion, and that staff would come back to Council with a cost-effective plan to address the needs stated, and seek to take action on a plan in the fall of 1998, noting that $745,000 was in the proposed budget to address the subject in the coming fiscal year. Vice-Mayor Crabtree noted that the General District Court Clerk's needs had been made known to Council for at least four years, and that Council needed to come up with a solution that dealt with this in the most cost-effective manner possible. He also noted that the first step in the process would need to be the renovation and expansion of the Social Services building in order to move the Police Department out, then the Clerk' s space could be constructed. Council next heard a presentation on a proposed plan for an improved Farmer' s Market in the Uptown. Mr. Reeves introduced this subject and Ms. Holly Ben Joseph of Hill Studios, Inc., Roanoke, Virginia. Ms. Ben Joseph led the discussion, stating that Hill Studios had taken up the study of this project within the context of their continuing services contract with the City. She then made a slide presentation showing other Farmer's Markets in Virginia that had been considered as good examples, and noted that a 1992 Hayes, Seay, Mattern