MEASURE D CITIZEN’S OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
January 22, 2008
Minutes
The meeting of the Measure D Citizen’s Oversight Committee was held at, 6500 Soquel Drive,
room 804A, Aptos, CA on Tuesday, January 22, 2008.
Present:
Rodney Brooks, Diane Craddock, Bob Petersen, Kris Reyes, Lou Tuosto, Bud
Winslow
Absent:
Leflora Cunningham
Cabrillo College staff members in attendance:
Paul Anderson, Pegi Ard, Doug Deaver,
Rob Ingram, Brian King
Kris called the meeting to order at 10:04 am.
I.
Introductions:
The committee members introduced themselves.
II.
Agenda Modifications
The agenda was approved unanimously.
III.
Approval of Minutes of October 2, 2007:
The minutes of October 2, 2007 were approved unanimously (Brooks/Tuosto).
IV.
Oral communications: Kris asked if there were any comments from members of the
public. There were none.
V.
Elect Vice Chair
Rodney nominated Lou Tuosto as vice chair. Bud seconded the nomination. Lou was
elected unanimously.
VI.
2006-07 Audit Report
Pegi distributed the draft audit report from Vavrineck, Trine and Daly. The committee will
officially receive the audit at the next meeting. There were no findings. 25% of random
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VII.
expenses were audited. Any questions or comments should be addressed to Pegi or other
staff by next week.
Project Status update
The January Facility Master Plan Update was distributed.
•
The Student Activities Center (SAC): The center is occupied and the Bookstore
opened in October, 2007. Landscaping is nearly complete. All 3 elevators are fully
functional. Bob asked if there is a concessioner for the food venue. Yes, Cabrillo has
a contract with Taher. Rodney asked for clarification in the descriptions
(Encumbered per Datatel). Encumbered means known contractual obligations that
haven’t been expensed to date. Doug explained that there are some claims and there
will probably be some litigation with one contractor. Kris asked whether a mandatory
arbitration clause exists. Doug explained that there are several possibilities: 1) the
contractor withdraws the claim, 2) the District and the Contractor through mandatory
arbitration, or 3) the District elects to go after the contractor’s bonding company.
Staff is weighing the different options.
•
Arts Education Classrooms (AEC). The steel is now going up in the two large
performances spaces. Exterior framing is well underway in the music building and
the roof is now going up. The Division office and 2D and 3D art buildings are water
tight using temporary measures to protect the interiors of the buildings during the
rainy season that has begun. Sheetrock is being installed and is progressing well.
Classes are anticipated for fall 2008. Bob asked if the Theater and Music buildings
will be ready for spring 2009. The current schedule has the larger buildings ready for
spring 2009; however, after completion there is break-in work that has to be done
prior to use of the performing venues.
•
Allied Health and Parking structure: The structure is open, and staff is working on
project close out with the contractor and DSA. That process is going well. The site
work for the buildings is a week away from completion once we have some dry
weather. The current plan is to bid the buildings at the end of February and to award
the contract in April. Bob asked if it is a one year construction. Paul stated that
construction is estimated to be 18-24 months. Lou asked if we have a qualification
process for bidders. Paul stated that our criteria is that a contractor has to have the
ability to bond. Rodney stated that bond underwriters are more scrupulous than
others.
•
Watsonville Library Acquisition: The property has been assessed for potential
problems in the soil and groundwater and the reports show a clean bill of health. Bob
asked whether the building will be demolished soon. The occupants will be moving
out in June. Staff anticipates construction to begin in April 2009. Kris asked whether
Trafton Street will be closed. The city has agreed to facilitate that process with
Cabrillo. The process will be subject to a public hearing and the neighborhood
residents may object; however, we don’t anticipate resistance from the neighbors.
Under any circumstance the District will have to maintain fire access to the residents
currently on Trafton Street. The current plan is to provide this access through the
existing parking lot. Rodney asked whether a parking structure is part of the project.
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No, but a few parking spaces will be gained from where the library is now. Parking
will be available at the new library. Bob asked where do students park. In the city
parking garage. The District currently pays the City of Watsonville for student
parking in downtown lots.
•
Scotts Valley. The Scotts Valley planning group has reconvened to determine next
steps. Parking at the current facility is at capacity so staff is working to identify other
possibilities. Bob asked whether the campus could be in the new Town Center
Project. Pegi replied that staff is not sure; there has been discussion with city
officials but the current location is actually better for easy access. Expansion on
Whispering Pines, however, would affect the other tenants. Lou noted that Bethany
University may be interested in talking about others using some of their space, they
own 110 acres. Brian will follow up.
•
Secondary Effects of Space Planning. bfgc, Inc. architectural firm has been hired;
they will meet with the departments in February and assess their needs using
guidelines from the Chancellor’s office and have recommendations by the summer.
Critical in the schedule now is to determine the end use of building 300 due to $3
million in state funding which requires that the renovation go to bid by June 2009.
Staff has met with bfgc twice and is moving full speed ahead. Rodney asked if
secondary effects utilize Measure D funds. Yes, it does, but there are also state
matching funds. Allied Health secondary effects have state matching funds for
$1,185,000. Bob asked if disciplines have spread out as the campus has grown. The
answer is yes. The process will start with the instructional divisions to determine
what is best for students. The goal is to look at current usage and also projected
future usage (i.e. is the department/division growing/shrinking, are the methodologies
changing, etc.). The same process will be used to determine space needs for the noninstructional departments like financial aid, counseling, business services, etc. Pegi
noted that we are going to be able to build the milestone projects; however, we are
somewhat concerned about fully funding the space reallocation project. We have
unresolved contractor issues on AEC, and the Allied Health and Watsonville
buildings haven’t been bid yet; therefore, there are unknowns at this time regarding
funding available for the space planning implementation. The bid climate is better
now than when we went out for SAC and AEC, so we are optimistic the two major
projects not yet under construction will be at or close to budget. Once we know those
pieces, we will know what our budget is for secondary effects. Faculty and staff see
the SAC, AEC, Allied Health, all beautiful facilities. Our challenge is to deliver state
of the art facilities for the other programs. Kris asked whether the west pedestrian
bridge is still on hold. Yes. Is anything else on hold? Pegi replied that we may have
to reduce the scope of secondary effects. We’ve been protecting RDA funds for
secondary effects. The bridge is on hold until we see the scope of secondary effects.
Brian noted that with a price of $2.5 million, it was a wise decision to put the bridge
on hold. Pegi noted that with the access through the Student Activities Center,
crossing Soquel is not as much of a pressing issue. The architects knew what they
were doing with the SAC and students are using the facility as the front door of the
college.
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Bud asked about the solar power project and whether it is part of the bond package. It
is not a part of the bond program. Doug explained that the project would be installed
and owned by a private 3rd party who would lease space from Cabrillo for 20 years.
We would purchase power from them. A $2.2 million grant has been secured from
PG&E. The best case scenario would be to put panels on parking structures and on
the perimeter road, but that is also the most expensive alternative. Staff is currently
trying to work out details of how much Cabrillo would pay for power. Rodney asked
if the endeavor is philanthropic. The District wants to be environmentally friendly,
but not at the cost of funding the project out of operation funds that would otherwise
support student instruction. The City of Santa Cruz is also looking at a solar project.
Bob noted that the company is subject to property tax, and that ought to be in the
discussion as well.
The next meeting will be Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. in 804A
The meeting was adjourned by Kris at 10:50 a.m.
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