AGENDA #1b
BUDGET WORKING PAPER
TO: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
FROM: Sonna Loewenthal, Assistant Town Manager
SUBJECT: Capital Program
DATE: June 12, 2002
This paper includes a recommendation of how to allocate an additional $815,000 within the Capital Improvements Program in 2002-03.
DISCUSSION
We focus primarily on the need to maintain the physical assets of the Town, on public safety needs and on projects involving new construction related to the goals of the Council. The Towns’ 2000 Facilities Assessment Survey provides a schedule for extraordinary maintenance intended both to address deferred maintenance needs and to keep up with expected tasks such as painting, roof replacements, mechanical system repair and replacements and the like. As we make our annual plans to implement this schedule, we routinely review the recommended maintenance in light of actual conditions at the time to see how our priorities may have shifted. For example, one facility may deteriorate faster than projected, as was the case with the Interfaith Council building; or, a particular element may need repair sooner than projected, such as the roof of the Chapel Hill Museum. Therefore, we have included below some specific maintenance projects as well as a general category for extraordinary maintenance for buildings.
In addition to the general category for building maintenance, we have Extraordinary Maintenance: Infrastructure and Small Park Projects. Each of these categories are meant to provide resources to deal with significant repair needs which are certain to appear during any year, but which cannot necessarily be predicted on an individual basis. Examples of small park projects are storm damage of paved walkways in parks which may present a danger to park users and the decline of a piece of playground apparatus to a point that may present a problem. Examples of infrastructure needs would include the repair of small failures roads, drainage structures, sidewalks, etc. These failures need to be repaired when they happen.
Below we describe more completely each item recommended for funding from the Capital Repair and Maintenance Fund. Funding for traffic calming is discussed elsewhere. A recommendation for the use of $200,000 in Library Gift Funds follows the discussion of the other expenditures.
Maintenance tasks included in the Facilities Assessment Study and others which appear; examples of such work from this year include repair and replacement of heating and air conditioning units at Hargraves ($4,500), lighting upgrade at Public Works Garage #1 ($2,600), valve replacement at the Community Center pool ($2,600), replacement of flooring at Parks and Recreation Administrative offices ($9,000), assessment and closures of underground storage tanks at Public Works and Fire Station #4 ($8,500), exterior paint at the Post Office ($17,000) and carpet replacement at IFC Shelter ($5,100).
Recent past examples include the drainage/sidewalk failure on McCauley Street ($14,500), an isolated street failure on Amesbury Drive ($7,500) and guardrail repairs for which insurance reimbursement weren’t available (in excess of $10,000). Current known needs include the pipe upgrade underneath Burning Tree Drive (which could be principally paid for by remaining drainage bond funds) and a potential drainage problem underneath a section of Raleigh Street.
Waterproofing of leaking exterior wall, replacement of leaking curved windows and of bay door, and other repairs.
.
Replacement of leaking roof and resurfacing of parking area before reconstruction is needed. (10-year installment financing)
Replacement of leaking 12 year old rubber membrane roof on which repairs have not been able to keep up with leaks which allow damage within the building.
Will permit us to continue to install curb cuts town-wide in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Replacement of the obsolete and poorly working building-wide phone system. Both the Town Council and the Library Board of Trustees have recommended that this expense should come from the Capital Repair and Maintenance Fund, rather than from the Library Gift Fund.
A recently completed survey of all of our asphalt parking lots, bike/pedestrian paths and greenway trails indicated a need for approximately $550,000 worth of current repairs/improvements. Repair of the Police Department parking lots are the highest priority now; most of the upper and lower lots could be resurfaced for this amount.
Renovation of all tennis courts at Cedar Falls and Phillips Parks and the basketball courts at Northside Gym and the Community Center; repair of
the tennis courts at Hargraves, Umstead and Oakwood Parks. Every attempt would be made to have the work completed this summer; if the resilient composite surface cannot be installed in August, it would need to wait until the summer of 2003. Asphalt can be laid into the fall. (10-year installment financing.)
Deferred exterior maintenance identified in 2000 Facilities Assessment, particularly the roof and windows and interior renovation of the basement. (Installment financing, with length of term depending on the amount of principal that initial engineering determines is needed.)
Tasks such as replacement of bleachers at Cedar Falls and Ephesus Parks; provision of Fall surfaces at Hargraves, Oakwood and Umstead play areas; repair of erosion problems at Cedar Falls & Hargraves Parks; fence replacement at various sites; and,
turf renovation/irrigation at Culbreth .
12. Update Geographic Information System Aerial Base Data - $40,000
Replacement of aerial photography and all of the mapping based on it. Current mapping based on photography flown in March 1998. (Installment financing, probably for four years)
Installation of a generator that would allow lighting, telephones and computers to remain operational during a power outage. (10-year installment financing)
Installation of a generator that would allow lighting, telephones and computers to remain operational during a power outage.
Design and installation of sidewalks and bikeways, with specific projects to be chosen by the Council in the fall.
Installation of greenway trails, probably part of the Linear Park along Booker Creek, between Franklin Street and US 15-501.
Summary of Recommendation for use of Capital Repair and Maintenance fund
Maintenance of Public Assets
Extraordinary Maintenance: Buildings $ 75,000
Extraordinary Maintenance: Infrastructure 40,000
Fire Station #4 70,000
Fire Station #2 (installment) 12,000
Town Hall Roof 110,000
Americans with Disabilities Act Ramps 25,000
Library Telephone System 25,000
Facilities’ Parking Lots 25,000
Tennis and Basketball Court Resurfacing (installment) 40,000
Post Office Renovation (installation) 180,000
Small Park Improvements 25,000
Update Geographic Information System Aerial Base Data 40,000
Public Safety
Police Department Emergency Generator 22,000
Town Hall Emergency Generator 26,000
New Facilities
Sidewalks/bicycle Facilities 75,000
Greenways 25,000
TOTAL $815,000
Recommendation for Use of Library Gift Fund
In addition we recommend that $200,000 of the Library Gift Fund be allocated for a new radio frequency identification system for library materials. Unique radio identifier tags would be placed in each book, CD or tape. The tags would broadcast signals to equipment that would be set up to automate tasks that are now performed manually. Once installed, the system should save the Town approximately $13,000 per year in operating costs ($20,000 less in staff costs; $7,000 more in new maintenance contract costs). We believe the system would speed up staff-assisted checkout, eliminate 40 hours of staff time per week, provide self-checkout for patrons, improve inventory control and eliminate more than 700,000 repetitive motions currently performed by staff each year.
CONCLUSION
We believe that the allocation discussed above would be a reasonable manner of allocating additional Capital Improvement Program funding, if such funding were to become available.