Salem Political Snark

Courthouse Square lies being spread to justify Police Facility wasteful spending

Looks like John Lattimer, the Chief Administrative Officer for Marion County, has been caught in a lie -- along with some members of the Salem City Council, who have been spreading the same falsehoods.

Here's what Lattimer said in a recent Statesman Journal letter to the editor, "Don't 'nickel and dime' police facility plan":

The community has a great example of what happens when buildings are re-designed to reduce costs. The Courthouse Square and Transit Mall is a perfect example of attempts to cut costs. There was a great amount of political heat on the decision makers at the time to reduce costs. Eventually, both the building and transit mall had to be re-engineered at great cost.

The Salem City Council should not make the same mistake.

I don't know whether Lattimer intentionally misrepresented the cause of the problems with Courthouse Square in downtown Salem to justify wasting money on an oversized and overpriced new police facility, or if he is just clueless about why Courthouse Square (built by Marion County and the Cherriots Transit Board) had to undergo extensive repairs after being built.

Here's what really happened with Courthouse Square. The building's problems weren't caused by cost-cutting. They were caused by mismanagement and poor construction practices. 

Before sharing what architect Geoffrey James, who chaired a Courthouse Square Task Force repair committee, has to say about Lattimer's letter, here's what Susan Kaltwasser said in a Facebook post. (I've corrected a few typos in both her post and James' messages):

John Lattimer should be ashamed of himself as Marion County CAO to so misrepresent what happened at the Courthouse Square! There are public records that clearly show that the problem was not due to cutting corners on the budget, BUT rather lack of oversight by the county and errors made by the construction contractors and engineers.

This is not opinion as Lattimer is giving, but fact based upon impartial investigation and court documents. This engineer made more mistakes in buildings in Salem projects (Salem Hospital parking structure).

The City Council is negligent in not questioning the consultants thus far and stating that they will trust the experts. Well experts can be wrong. Oversight is what is needed, NOT more money.

This lie is being promoted by those who want to fool the Salem public into thinking more money means a better building. They think that an expensive PR firm can "sell" the project to the voters. I hope that the voters will see through this.

I also hope that the voters throw these current politicians who are making these wrong and costly mistakes out in May. We need people who think for themselves and read the staff reports and vote on what is right for citizens and not just what lines theirs and other builder friends' pockets with taxpayers' hard earned money.

We need a police station. We can have a large, adequate and well built facility for $30 million. We do not need another expensive parking structure when one is just a block away.

And here's what Geoffrey James said in an online comment on Lattimer's letter to the editor:

The writer is incorrect. I served on both the Courthouse Square Task Force (and chaired a committee) and on the Blue Ribbon Police Facility Task Force.

My work on Courthouse Square started in 1986 with early site studies and conceptual design, for County and Transit. The building was constructed for $34M in 2000, with a perfectly adequate budget, i.e. certainly not built on the cheap.

The facts are that both the Salem Hospital Parking Garage and the Courthouse Square were designed by the same structural engineer, who made some serious design mistakes in the post-stressed flat slab concrete structure design and calculations, of both buildings.

Salem Health decided to fix their building. Marion County (the letter writer is county administrator) decided not to, because they insisted on staying on time and budget, i.e. no change orders. So that meant that I (as committee chair for the fix) had to spend hundreds of volunteer hours (10 years later) finding a way to repair the building for $20M, versus the $65M the Portland consultants had estimated.

Local volunteers were proven right. The expensive out-of-town consultants were proven wrong (by $40M) and the taxpayers won. Sounds familiar?

Chicago consultants recommend a $82M Police Facility, when we know that Eugene's new one was $17M. The bottom line is that Courthouse Square had an adequate budget of $34M. It was the engineering consultant, and the city's lack of an engineer reviewing the plans, that led to the $22.8M problem that we (locals) devised a fix for.

It would have cost a fraction of that if the county administrator had recommended a $3M? fix during construction. Beware of out-of-town consultants and their big cost estimates, and watch out for consultants' mistakes. Quality control (by city or county) is needed, not excessive budgets.

This fits with the "How did things go so wrong?" section of a blog post from the law firm that handled a legal battle about the Courthouse Square structural defects. Excerpts:

In their report, Golder found serious problems with the building's structural design, writing that it was inadequate; lacked sufficient detail and clarity; and was never subjected to peer-review before or during construction. Design revisions made during construction were also cited in the report as worsening the building's already-flawed structural design.

The report also blamed management and supervision errors for the poor construction practices which led to the building's structural and other defects... 

The lack of experience in managing and overseeing construction projects similar in size and scope to the Courthouse Square project among County and Transit officials, the architect and the primary contractor were also cited in the report as contributing to the flawed construction.

Finally, the forensic engineering report, citing data from concrete strength tests it conducted during its investigation, concluded that the building's concrete elements were too weak.

Lastly, I asked Geoffrey James to respond to Lattimer's claim that cost-cutting was the cause of Courthouse Square's construction problems. Here's the message that he emailed back to me. It provides more detail than James' online comment.

Chuck Bennett's WTF! moments at City Club Mayoral debate

When I watch politicians debate, almost always I experience some WTF! moments where that's bullshit flashes into my mind. 

Last Friday's Salem City Club debate between the Mayoral candidates in the May 17 election, Carole Smith and Chuck Bennett, was no exception. 

(My first non-WTF debate post was "Contrast between Smith and Bennett evident at Salem City Club Mayoral debate.")  

There were two subjects Bennett talked about that elicited a WTF! reaction from me: (1) a proposed multi-use bike path in West Salem, Salemtowne to Downtown, and (2) making the Library and City Hall earthquake-safe.

Nothing Smith said seemed worthy of a WTF!

And this isn't because I resonate much more closely with Smith's political point of view, than with Bennett's. I just didn't hear any factual misstatements come out of Smith's mouth -- which is my definition of that's bullshit. 

We're all going to have different political opinions. But we should do our best to agree on the relevant facts those opinions should be based on. So here's where I found Bennett lacking, fact-wise.

(1) On his support for a Marine Drive Bike Trail, a.k.a. Salemtowne to Downtown. 

Chuck Bennett said that he'd like to see this trail built. Well, he's one of three City Council members on a bond committee which oversees funds remaining from the 2008 Streets and Bridges Bond, which included money to purchase the right-of-way for Marine Drive NW.

Mark Wigg, a local alternative transportation activist, has been pushing for the Marine Drive Bike Trail. (See "Why people will LOVE to use a multi-use path in West Salem.")

So far Wigg has been unable to get support from Bennett for buying the Marine Drive right-of-way, as was called for in the Streets and Bridges Bond. Volunteers would build the Bike Trail if the City of Salem acquires the right-of-way.

Mark Wigg attended the City Club debate. After it was over, I talked with him.

Wigg confirmed to me that yes, the City has the bond fund money to buy the right-of way; yes, Bennett is on the committee that oversees how that money is spent; and yes, Bennett hasn't done anything to move the Marine Drive Bike Trail forward.

So if Chuck Bennett really wants a Salemtowne to Downtown multi-use path, he hasn't shown any actual commitment to this, just empty words. That's why I give him a WTF! on his statement that he'd like to see the path built.

Regarding why the Marine Drive Bike Trail is stuck in limbo, my suspicion is that the Billion Dollar Third Bridge Dream is the reason. I talked about this in "Why the unbuilt Third Bridge Boondoggle is hurting Salem."

(2) On his statement that there is no cost estimate to make the Library and City Hall earthquake-safe. 

Bike paths are important. Saving lives when the Really Big One earthquake hits is really important.

Public officials shouldn't talk crap when it comes to keeping people safe at the Library and City Hall when, not if, the next Cascadia subduction zone earthquake strikes the northwest with what will be the worst natural disaster in the history of North America. 

One reason planning for a new Salem police facility was undertaken is because City Hall almost certainly will collapse in a large earthquake. So back in 2013 City officials proposed building a new police facility (currently the Police Department is on the ground floor of City Hall), and making the Civic Center earthquake-safe.  

At the City Club debate, Chuck Bennett said these are separate issues -- the police facility and seismic upgrades.

Well, actually they aren't, because if it is important to save the lives of Police Department staff by getting them into an earthquake-safe building, it sure seems equally important to save the lives of everybody at City Hall and the Library when a mega-earthquake hits.

Bennett also said that there is no cost estimate for seismic upgrades to City Hall and the Library, apparently in an attempt to justify leaving them out of a police facility/seismic upgrades Public Safety Bond that could be presented to voters in November 2016.

(This was the original plan of City officials until the size and cost of the police facility doubled.)

Bennett added, rather confusingly, that a cost estimate for seismic upgrades does exist, but he dismissed the validity of the estimate by saying it was done by some guy from out-0f-town who just walked through the buildings (not an exact quote; I'm going by my scribbled notes).

Well, on behalf of Salem Community Vision, I wrote the group's position paper on a new police facility and seismic upgrades to the Civic Center buildings. In doing background research for the position paper, some Googling turned up two reports prepared by consultants hired by the City of Salem.

These certainly were a heck of a lot more extensive than Bennett's remarks to the City Club audience implied. Take a look:

In 2014, the Portland office of BergerABAM, a large engineering consulting firm, produced a 17-page report with extensive appendices, "Evaluation Report: Salem Central Public Library." In 2011, BMGP Engineers (a Salem company, not an out-of-town firm) produced a 20-page report, also with appendices, "City of Salem Civic Center Seismic Evaluation of City Hall East, West, and South Wings."

Here's how I briefly described the reports in the Salem Community Vision position paper:

In the original City of Salem 75,000 square foot police facility proposal, seismic upgrades to City Hall were included.

A 2011 estimate by engineering consultants put the cost at about $5,250,000 (including “soft” costs). In 2014 the cost of making seismic upgrades to the Library, Auditorium, and parking structure was calculated: about $10,000,000, assuming the same 70% figure for costs other than actual construction (design, contingencies,etc.).

So Chuck Bennett spoke falsely.

There are indeed well-researched cost estimates for making essential seismic upgrades to City Hall and the Library (including Loucks Auditorium and the Library parking structure). In addition, a recent City of Salem staff report about police facility planning progress said:

At the February 29, 2016 public hearing, Council discussed whether potential savings from the Police Facility project could be used to fund some seismic strengthening of the buildings on the Civic Center campus.

The revised cost estimates for the Police Facility project show a contingency of 9% on the project or $5.44 million. It is unlikely that the project will be completed with adequate savings to make a measurable impact on the seismic strengthening need of Civic Center buildings, which is currently estimated at approximately $26.6 million (in 2016 dollars).

Sure sounds like a cost estimate to me: $26.6 million.

If Bennett opposes making the Civic Center earthquake-safe, he should simply say so. Then voters can take this into account when deciding whether to vote for him or Carole Smith to be Salem's next Mayor.

(Parents of children who visit the Library's StoryTime should really take this into account.)

But please, Councilor Bennett, don't say stuff that isn't true. There are indeed solid cost estimates for making seismic upgrades to City Hall and the Library. Salem Community Vision has also pointed this out in a Facebook post that criticizes Bennett on this issue. 

It starts out with:

WHEN YOU ARE RUNNING FOR MAYOR YOU SHOULD RECALL CITY HALL & LIBRARY SEISMIC RETROFIT ENGINEERING REPORTS AND COST ESTIMATES

The Councilor for Ward 1 [Chuck Bennett] is running for Mayor, but obviously does not pay attention, or do his homework.

Salem City Council struggles with police facility and earthquake-safety questions

Bad timing. The Salem City Council scheduled tonight's 6:30 pm work session on the new police facility at the same time as the Final Four Championship game between Villanova and North Carolina. 

Since I want to attend the work session to see what new political craziness the folks at City Hall will unleash on unsuspecting citizens, and also want to come home ASAP after the work session and immerse myself in my recorded finale of March Madness, I figured I'd write most of a blog post report on the work session beforehand.

That way I can sit at the meeting, laptop in my lap, and type in red-tinged answers to the questions below -- the most important topics Salem's Mayor and city councilors should address regarding the size and cost of a new police facility, and making seismic upgrades to City Hall and the Library to save lives when the Really Big One earthquake hits.

For background, refer to the City of Salem staff analysis, "Police Facility Planning Progress Report."
Download 4_4_16 City Council Work Session Materials FINAL

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Next day "bottom line" update: As you can read in red below, I left the City Council meeting at 10 pm, worried that my head was going to explode after sitting through 3 1/2 hours of meandering unproductive discussion that, pretty clearly, was going nowhere. This morning I watched the CCTV video meeting to see what I missed at the very end of the meeting.

(Aside from the freaking great Final Four championship match between Villanova and North Carolina, which I watched a recording of when I got home -- by far the best part of my evening.)

At the time I left, Councilor Andersen had made a motion to settle on the smaller-sized 125,000 square foot police facility plan that leaves out a new 911 center and saves about $11 million. As almost always happens with Andersen motions (he's the most progressive member of the right-wing council), a substitute motion was quickly made.

That motion was the one that passed. It basically leaves everything the same, asking the consultants to come back with a revised cost and layout plan for the original 148,000 square foot police facility on a smaller site -- since a decision has been made to save the dental clinic on the north end of the O'Brien property.

So like I surmised, nothing was really accomplished last night.

The Mayor and City Council haven't settled on a size for the police facility. They haven't determined whether seismic upgrades to the Library and City Hall should be part of a public safety bond. They aren't sure whether a 911 call center should be part of the new police facility. And they never got around to discussing the polling/survey data that was supposed to be part of the meeting agenda.
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City of Salem officials acting stupid on earthquake safety

Gosh, maybe this is too radical an idea for Salem's Mayor and City Council, but it sure seems like a "Public Safety" bond voters will be asked to approve in the November election should actually keep the public safe -- rather than being a massive waste of taxpayer money to build an overpriced Police Palace.

A few years ago our sometimes-wise City officials recognized a scary truth: City Hall and the Library are almost surely going to collapse when the next massive Cascadia subduction zone earthquake, a.k.a. the Big One, strikes. 

Children at the Library's Storytime would be crushed under tons of rubble. City staff who should be available to help Salem recover from what will be the biggest disaster in the history of North America will be dead or seriously injured. 

Linda Norris, the City Manager at the time, said this about City Hall in a 2013 Statesman Journal story:

"The way it is, right now, city employees wouldn't even be able to get out of the building alive, much less use the building.”

As reported by Salem Community Vision in a must-read position paper, "Salem's New Police Facility: The Best Way to Achieve It," in 2013 City officials were all set to spend about $20 million on essential seismic upgrades to City Hall (and probably also the Library) as part of an $80 million Public Safety bond that included about $60 million for a new 75,000 square foot police facility with underground parking on the Civic Center campus.

But community resistance to this plan led to some Chicago consultants being hired. Unfortunately, their supersized plan doubled the size of the police facility to 150,000 square feet, so $80 million would only pay for it alone.

So now the previous plan to make City Hall and the Library earthquake-ready to save lives has been sacrificed in order to construct empty space in a supersized police facility that might possibly be needed 30 years from now by the Police Department -- though this is by no means certain, as hardly anything in life is.

What is certain is this: the Big One earthquake is a matter of when, not if.

Yet currently the only "plan" (using that word loosely) City officials have to fund seismic upgrades to City Hall and the Library is to use fantasized cost savings from a $80 million police facility bond to pay for them.

Yeah, right.

The dream of Mayor Peterson and some equally clueless city councilors is that a competitive bidding process to construct an $80 million police facility will result in a 25% cost under-run that magically leaves $20 million to be spent on making the Civic Center earthquake-ready.

Over on my other blog I've ranted about the craziness of not making the seismic upgrades:

"Why a new police facility could cost many lives"
"Earthquake readiness: will the Salem City Council choose to save lives?"
"A Moral Must: make Salem's Library and City Hall earthquake ready"

Eugene is acting a lot smarter. Plans are being laid to build a new City Hall to the highest possible seismic standard even though this will cost more. 
Download Stronger and Spendier Register Guard story

With the changes, Bohman said, “City Hall is becoming safer, greener, more welcoming and a better long-term investment for the community as a result of this extra time and work.”

An apparent driver of the anticipated cost increase is the work to strengthen the building to a standard reserved for buildings deemed essential in an emergency, including fire and police stations and hospitals, so they are immediately operable after a major earthquake or other disaster.

...Richard Rogers, the state’s chief building official, said such a building should ride out a major earthquake with only minimal damage, but it may need minor repairs before it can be operable again.

“It’s not falling down,” he said. “There should be no loss of life.”

Yet here in Salem, City officials are even balking at retrofitting City Hall and the Library to a lesser earthquake standard, "Life and Safety," while Eugene is heading toward building a City Hall to an "Immediate Occupancy" standard.

This is shameful. Lives are at stake.

Yet Salem's Mayor and City Council appear to be willing to let children and other visitors to the Civic Center die so a Police Palace can be built that is twice the size of the police facility City officials said was just fine a few years ago.

If you're as upset about this as I am, email the Mayor and City Council at [email protected]

They're having a work session next Monday, April 4, to discuss plans for the new police facility. Tell them they have to restore money in a Public Safety bond for making the Library and City Hall earthquake-safe. 

Otherwise voters should make sure in November that this bond is as dead as the people who will die at the Civic Center if the seismic upgrades don't happen.