Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04 East Metro Public Safety Training Facility (HERO Center) 4 CITY OF WOODBURY, MINNESOTA Office of City Administrator Council Workshop Letter No. 17-24 February 9, 2017 TO: The Honorable Mayors and Members of the Cottage Grove and Woodbury City Councils FROM: Charlene Stevens, Cottage Grove City Administrator Clinton P. Gridley, Woodbury City Administrator SUBJECT: East Metro Public Safety Training Facility (HERO Center) Pre-Design Phase SUMMARY Cottage Grove Public Safety and Woodbury Public Safety began discussions in 2011 to plan for our future public safety training needs. It was identified that no comprehensive public safety training facility exists in the east metropolitan area. The City of Cottage Grove passed a resolution on June 19, 2013, to request state bonding funds to design and plan for a training facility. In June, 2014, a 50% bonding match appropriation was approved by the Minnesota State Legislature and Governor to the City of Cottage Grove for the predesign and design of the HERO Center in partnership with Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU/Inver Hills Community College). Due to change in direction from MnSCU, they were no longer available to participate in the project. The Cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury continued to move towards partnership of the proposed HERO Center. On June 13, 2015, the Minnesota State Legislature and Governor amended and approved the bonding appropriation to the City of Cottage Grove in the amount of $1.46 million for the predesign, and design of a regional public safety training facility to be built in Cottage Grove. The amended bonding appropriation does not require any contributions from the Cities, but was contingent upon the City of Cottage Grove and the City of Woodbury entering into an agreement for operation and management of the HERO Center (Memorandum of Understanding/MOU). As part of the preparation for the project, Interact Business Group (IBG) was identified as a national subject expert in the area of strategic planning for public safety training centers. In February, 2016, the Cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury entered into a professional services contract with IBG to develop plans for non-eligible items of the project that were outside the scope of the Grant. In February, 2016, request for proposals (RFP’s) for were solicited from professional service firms for the pre-design and design of the HERO Center. The HERO selection team committee, Council Workshop Letter No. 17-24 February 9, 2017 Page 2 comprised of key staff from both the City of Cottage Grove and the City of Woodbury, as well as IBG representatives, reviewed submitted RFP’s, and interviewed the top three firms. In March, 2016, the HERO selection team committee unanimously selected Leo A. Daly as the preferred professional service firm for this project. On April 20, 2016, and on April 27, 2016 respectively, Cottage Grove City Council and Woodbury City Council passed resolutions to approve: 1.A Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Cottage Grove and the City of Woodbury for operation and management of the HERO Center. 2.A professional services contract between the Cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury, and Leo A. Daly for their professional services for the pre-design and design of the HERO Center; and 3.To authorize the City of Woodbury to assist the City of Cottage Grove in the submission of documentation/business plan to satisfy the requirements of the Grant agreement. From April 2016 to present date, City representatives have worked directly with Leo A. Daly and Interact Business Group through the pre-design process. Key action items include: th 1.Two site reviews within Cottage Grove (8641 80 Street South, and 12600 Ravine Parkway South) with the recommendation of 12600 Ravine Parkway South being the preferred build site. 2.Land valuation process of 12600 Ravine Parkway South. 3.Met with appropriate representatives with regards to the land procurement process of 12600 Ravine Parkway South. 4.Continuation of required documentation to satisfy the Grant requirements. 5.Discussion and development from both a local and regional perspective of basis of need, including training requirements and program development. 6.Predesign process, including precedent studies (local and national perspective), space needs assessment, and predesign charrette. 7.Preliminary scope of construction costs and operational and maintenance costs. 8.Identifying and meeting with potential partners, members, and renters. Further solidify and develop partnerships to benefit capital and operational costs. 9.95% completion of the strategic business plan. 10.The project team has toured other sites in the region of similar size, scope, and capabilities. Leadership at these training centers has been very open and forthcoming with guidelines and recommendations from their experiences. RECOMMENDATION Staff is seeking authorization from Cottage Grove and Woodbury City Councils to prepare a resolution and letter of intent to: 1.Approve moving from Pre-design (Step 1) and entering into Design phase (Step 2) between the Cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury, and Leo A. Daly for their professional services for the design of the HERO Center. Council Workshop Letter No. 17-24 February 9, 2017 Page 3 2.Approval to pursue development of a bonding request for FY 2018 for the construction of the HERO Center. 3.Approval to seek and retain third party consultant (lobbyist) to assist with the general obligation bonding request for FY 2018. 4.Return to the individual council’s in the second quarter of 2018 for project update. BUDGET IMPACT The State of Minnesota bonding appropriation of $1.46 million does not require any contribution from the Cities. If this facility moves forward into construction, another request for state bonding would commence and the Cities’ financial shares would be determined at that time. The City of Cottage Grove is responsible for the initial payment for the pre-design and design work of the HERO Center as the Grant distributes funds through a reimbursement process. Per the disbursement rules of the Grant, the draw requisitions shall be limited to amounts equal to the portion of the predesign/design activities that has been completed since the submittal of the last prior draw requisition. Initial funding would be available from existing fund balance in the Capital Improvement Fund. Draw requisitions will be requested by the City of Cottage Grove as the Grant was awarded solely to them. The Cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury have entered into a professional services contract with Interact Business Group (IBG) to develop plans for non-eligible items of the project that were outside the scope of the Grant. The services will include the development of a daily operations plan, governance plan, financial assessment (O & M only), benefit analysis, and funding strategies. The total cost for this professional services contract is $20,000, which is divided 50/50 between the Cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury. Cottage Grove’s cost for this professional services contract is $10,000. Woodbury’s cost for this professional services contract is $10,000. These funds are within the existing operating funds of both Cottage Grove and Woodbury’s Public Safety budgets. The May 2009 Minnesota Department of Public Safety study “Public Safety Training Facilities Needs Assessment” outlines the state’s funding standpoint is “to ensure equal state and local participation in training facilities, state funds should be assumed to provide no more than 50 percent of the total capital costs for the facility and no state subsidy should be provided for the ongoing operation of the facility, unless a state agency is an ongoing partner in the use and operation of the facility”. If the request for state bonding is awarded for construction of the HERO Center, staff anticipates 50% of the funding to come from state bonding. The remainder of the construction costs is to be split equally (50/50 %) between the Cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury. (The site land valuation will be included as part of Cottage Grove’s 50%). The yearly operation and maintenance of the facility will be based upon an agency size formula. In anticipation of construction costs, the City of Cottage Grove has included 4 million into their approved 2018-2022 Capital Improvement Plan for FY 2018. The City of Woodbury has included 3 million in the approved 2017-2021 Capital Improvement Plan for FY 2019. Council Workshop Letter No. 17-24 February 9, 2017 Page 4 Operation and maintenance costs may be recovered through the use of the strategic business plan, which would include developing potential partners and members, as well as renting out various spaces within the facility. The facility will be designed to allow for multiple rental opportunities concurrently to maximize operation and maintenance cost recovery. PUBLIC PROCESS Cottage Grove and Woodbury Public meetings for the various stages of this project thus far include: April 17, 2013 Cottage Grove Council Meeting-Request for funding/approved June 19, 2013 Cottage Grove Council Meeting-Passed resolution for bonding funds July 10, 2013 Woodbury Council Workshop October 29, 2013 House Capital Investment Committee bonding request presentation October 15, 2014 Woodbury Council Workshop October 22, 2015 Joint Council workshop (Cottage Grove/Woodbury) 2013-2015 Cottage Grove discussions during Cottage Grove’s Budget process; added to the CIP; presentations to Public Safety, Health and Welfare Commission meetings April 20, 2016 Cottage Grove Council Meeting April 20, 2016 Woodbury Council Workshop April 27, 2016 Woodbury Council Meeting SCHEDULE See attachment #1 for key dates for the HERO Center project schedule. BACKGROUND The Cities of Woodbury and Cottage Grove are unique in that they provide police, EMS and fire services using a public safety model. This allows all disciplines to work cooperatively to serve our citizens while reducing costs through shared services. In-service training is a critical component of a successful public safety model. In order to provide high quality public safety services, it is crucial that our staff regularly trains together as an integrated service. The new Cottage Grove City Hall/Public Safety building constructed in 2012, as well as the 2011 Woodbury Public Safety Building remodel has given us classroom capabilities for static training. The proposed HERO Center will complement the classroom training space by providing larger flexible rooms and equipment designed for realistic scenario based education. As public safety education continues to evolve, the use of immersive, realistic scenario based training is increasingly utilized as an effective way to prepare police officers, firefighters and EMS staff for their real world encounters. Scenario based training includes realistic emergency response situations, emergency driving simulation, “Simunition” non-lethal firearms training, crisis management simulation, and EMS medical response labs. In scenario based training, Council Workshop Letter No. 17-24 February 9, 2017 Page 5 students are able to experience problem solving and real stress in a safe and controlled environment. Instructors are able to accurately assess our real world tactics and capabilities. Public safety administrators are able to use this data to develop policy, limit our liabilities and insure effectiveness and efficiencies in our service delivery. As we anticipate a greater use of scenario based training in the future, we also recognize that the current facilities available for hosting this type of education are insufficient for meeting our needs. The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office no longer has their scenario based training room available since it has been repurposed into county offices. This, and other experiences with Ramsey County, has demonstrated the need to be a partner agency rather than a customer agency. Features critical to our successful training have disappeared in favor of other county priorities. Items as fundamental as repair and maintenance of the firearms range are at the will of the providing agency and have resulted in years of delays with no ability for our agency to change outcomes. We understand that Ramsey County can and should dictate what is in their best interest and that we are working under a contract that was written over 13 years ago before scenario based training truly became a public safety industry standard. But the result is that we must regularly look elsewhere to accomplish our training needs. Today, both Cottage Grove and Woodbury Public Safety relies upon a mixture of borrowed, temporary and rented facilities. We use empty warehouse space when it becomes available and we pay officers to travel to other parts of the metropolitan area, and even as far as Camp Ripley, MN, to find suitable training sites. While local businesses attempt to accommodate our requests to utilize their facilities for training as best they can, many are now declining our requests from a liability standpoint. Overall, our current training accommodations are not sustainable over the long term. This assessment led to our discussions with Cottage Grove and Woodbury, where we found that our experiences are not unique and, in fact, shared by educational institutions specializing in pre- service education and training as well as area medical providers. As partnership discussions progressed, we discovered that the State of Minnesota recommends a regional multi-disciplinary approach to public safety training facilities. In addition, two legislative reports, both the February, 1999 Minnesota Department of Public Safety study “Statewide Master Plan for Fire and Law Enforcement Training Facilities” and the May 2009 Minnesota Department of Public Safety study “Public Safety Training Facilities Needs Assessment” points to a significant deficit in such training facilities in the Twin Cities East Metropolitan area. These reports also site “Public safety training facilities should support safe, realistic training in a controlled environment. Technology should aid in creating more realistic training simulations, while also keeping participating personnel safe from accidents and injuries”. Our planning team has utilized the mantra “safe, secure, and consistent” as we work on all aspects of this project. We understand the benchmark for modern, progressive public safety training is to conduct training in a safe, secure, and consistent environment. Minnesota State Statute 87.A.09 “Public Shooting Ranges; Accessibility” requires (in part): A publicly owned or managed shooting range located in the seven-county metropolitan area that is funded in whole or part with public funds must be available at least twice during the spring and Council Workshop Letter No. 17-24 February 9, 2017 Page 6 twice during the summer for use by participants in a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources firearms safety instruction course under section 97B.015. The shooting range must be available during hours reasonable for youth participants. The range operator may charge a fee to cover any costs directly incurred from use required under this section, but may not charge a fee to offset costs for general maintenance and operation of the facility. In considering the public shooting range statute, this has directed our conversation as to how the Cities can utilize the HERO Center as a hub for safety training for the general public. Initial considerations would be to utilize the HERO Center for public training for firearms, “entertainment” scenarios on the simulation system, recreational vehicle training, and hosting health events to name a few. The City of Cottage Grove has taken the lead in addressing this regional issue. They have identified a site, sought and secured the City of Woodbury in partnership, and have successfully obtained the approval of state bonding appropriations for planning and design. By Cottage Grove and Woodbury becoming partners in this project, we will be able to take an active role in the planning, design and implementation of a collaborative interdisciplinary public safety training facility. It is essential that the Cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury capitalize on this unique opportunity to assure that our public safety training needs and the needs of our neighboring communities will be met as our Cities and the region grows to maturity. Written By: Kris Mienert, Public Safety Commander Approved Through: Lee Vague, Public Safety Director Attachments: HERO Center project schedule