Jessica Cejnar / Tuesday, March 9, 2021 @ 4:26 p.m. / Local Government
Child Support Services Will Move Despite Current Landlord's Objections, Threats to Sue
Del Norte County supervisors approved a new home for the Department of Child Support Services on Tuesday over threats to sue from its current landlord.
Thomas Barnes, TAB Inc. owner and owner of the department’s current home, accused its director, Aaron Goodwin, of bypassing the county’s Future Facilities Goal Committee.
Barnes argued that the proposal to move the department into smaller office spaces at 1225 Marshall Street in Crescent City wasn’t vetted properly and said he’d challenge it in court.
“You owe it to this community to have an unbiased review and evaluation of these proposals so you can make an educated guess,” Barnes told county supervisors. “Several things are not factual and they’re incomplete. You wouldn’t know that.”
TAB Inc. submitted the larger of two bids to the county Department of Child Support. On Tuesday, Goodwin recommended the county accept the bid from North Plaza Professionals.
After County Counsel Joel Campbell-Blair told them Goodwin did nothing wrong by bringing the matter before the Board of Supervisors instead of the Future Facilities Goal Committee, supervisors voted 3-1-1 to approve the proposed move.
District 4 Supervisor Gerry Hemmingsen recused himself, saying he had a conflict. District 5 Supervisor Bob Berkowitz voted against the proposed lease agreement with North Plaza Professionals, saying going through the Future Facilities Goal Committee is necessary because it allows the general public to be heard.
“We’re planning on spending hundreds of thousands of dollars with no input from the general public about whether they have a vested interest or not,” he said. “It’s important they be heard and it’s important that the pros and cons be heard.”
The reason behind the proposed move to the Marshall Street facility stems from a desire to increase safety for Child Support Services staff and clients, Goodwin said. His staff have dealt with hostile clients without a physical barrier other than a high countertop to protect them.
The current office’s cubical setup also failed to offer privacy, Goodwin said. At 16.4 feet above sea level, the current Child Support Services office is in the tsunami inundation zone and, at 7,100 square feet is too large for the roughly 16 staffers the department currently employs, he said.
“Most of the current facility is largely unused,” Goodwin said. “As a government-funded entity it’s not good use of taxpayers money. We’d be more effective in a smaller space.”
There’s also budgetary concerns, Goodwin said. As a result of COVID-19 concerns, there’s been a $417,000 decrease in funding for Child Support Services, he said, and the facility’s current cost is the second largest budgetary item for the department.
The department’s current lease with TAB Inc. costs $102,700.80 per year and is set to expire June 30, according to Goodwin’s staff report. The proposed lease costs $38,142 for the first year. State and federal dollars would be used to pay for the lease. According to the staff report, over its 10-year lifecycle, the lease would cost $355,014.
“By shrinking this facility, there’s an indirect cost savings,” Goodwin said. “Our electric bill here is right around $900, and that’s heating a 7,100 square-foot facility. Shrinking to about 3000 square feet is a savings on the savings we have in this opportunity. If TAB won out, they would have won.”
Alder Point Real Estate owner Kevin Hawkins said he answered Goodwin’s request for proposals on behalf of his client North Plaza Professionals. Hawkins said he received the RFP as a member of the Del Norte County Board of Realtors.
“We have been looking for a tenant and they made a very close alignment with need and what we had to offer,” Hawkins said of Child Support Services. “I think the big things we need to hit on here are cost suitability and safety. Ultimately there will be comments — I’m assuming cost seems too good to be true here — we knew that going into this RFP process that there would be multiple people submitting proposals. We wanted to make our proposal competitive.”
Before the Board of Supervisors made its decision, Chairman Chris Howard asked Campbell-Blair to weigh in on whether not taking the matter to the Future Facilities Committee was a concern.
Campbell-Blair said the Future Facilities Committee is an internal body that helps a department head trying to make a decision.
“This idea that the Future Facilities is a legally-necessary body, that there’s something illegal about this, I think, is just not supportable and I wouldn’t recommend the board worry about that,” Campbell-Blair said.
District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey refuted Barnes’ claim that the Board of Supervisors didn’t have sufficient time to make an educated decision.
“There is no direction or mandate in the admin manual that says (a proposal) has to go through Future Facilities,” she said. “And as far as public comment, we’re going through that now and I am hoping the people that want to voice their concerns will do that now.”
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