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County's office-space headache grows |
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Friday, 23 November 2007 |
 Inyo County Administrator Ron Juliff suggested that the county Water D epartment, which may be losing its lease at the end of this year, be moved from May Street in Bishop to the southern end of the county. No decision has been made on the move, but a definite need for office space in Bishop has been identified. Photo by Mike Gervais By Mike Gervais
Register Staff 11-22-2007
Inyo County has found itself in quite a conundrum with its office space issues in Bishop.
A workshop with the Inyo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday revealed that the county may be on the verge of losing more than just 8,173 square feet of work space in the Cottonwood Plaza.
In addition to the Cottonwood Plaza headache, the county is facinguncertainty on a lease for 4,000 square feet of office space for the Health and Human Services office in Bishop Plaza, and the expiration of the Water Department and Inyo Narcotic Enforcement Team’s leases at the end of December.
In regards to the Water Department, County Administrator Ron Juliff wasn’t optimistic. “The lease is now expiring with little to few options,” Juliff explained.
During the workshop Juliff told the board that the Water Department has been managing its lease, outside of the County Public Works Department, which acts as the county’s lease administrator.
According to Juliff, the Water Department had a six-year lease for its building on May Street, with three years of optional renewal. The Water Department mistakenly believed it had one last renewal option left when in reality the lease will be up by the end of the year.
Likewise, several other Bishop offices may be facing either month-to-month renting status or relocation by Dec. 31.
When it comes to the Water Department, Juliff had some suggestions that make fiscal sense to the county, but could cause potential “morale” problems within the department.
During a recent study on the county’s current office space in Bishop, and its options for purchasing or leasing new offices, Juliff discussed the idea of relocating the Water Department to the southern end of the county.
That idea didn’t go over so well with department employees, Juliff said, noting that one or more employees threatened a lawsuit against the county if it attempted to move the offices out of Bishop.
“It makes great sense to move the office to where their work takes place,” Juliff said. Juliff explained that much of the field work the Water Department conducts happens at the wellfields, most of which are in the southern part of the county.
During his study Juliff came up with several feasible options to move county offices around to accommodate all the needs of employees, but noted that the moves would cause a “domino effect,” requiring several offices to be relocated, some to the southern end of the county.
One such move would put the Water Department in the Inyo County Office of Education building in Independence and the Yucca Mountain Repository Assessment Office, which is currently working out of the Water Department, in the Bishop Library, where there is available space, including a “reading room” for the public. According to Juliff, the Yucca Mountain employees have requested such a room 8in the past.
Juliff also discussed the possibility of moving Yucca Mountain employees to the Inyo County Office of Education building in Independence or to the Lone Pine Library.
With the possibility of changing locations of several county offices, Juliff was reluctant to begin renewing current leases for county office space in Bishop, such as INET’s space, the location of which is kept under wraps, due to the nature of the office’s work.
The INET lease will expire at the end of this year, and “you may want to go month-to-month rather than a long-term lease” on that property, Juliff advised the supervisors.
“There are rumors that the lease will not be renewed” for the county’s Cottonwood Plaza office space, Juliff explained. Those offices house the county’s Bishop Administrative Office, Probation, Waste Management and Child Support Services.
The lease on the Cottonwood Plaza space will be up in July 2008, at which time the county will learn if it will be able to renew its lease there.
In addition to the uncertainty regarding the office space in Bishop, the county agriculture commissioner has noted that his office is overcrowded and requested 30,000 square feet of office space and the Inyo County District Attorney’s Office has also said as much, requesting a new location across from the Bishop Courthouse.
“There may be ways to bring some of these offices down here” to the southern part of the county, Juliff told the supervisors. But with two-thirds of Inyo’s population living in Bishop, Juliff also noted that there is a definite need for the county to maintain offices there as well.
“We have large space needs,” he added.
At the conclusion of the workshop, Fifth District Supervisor Richard Cervantes requested that Juliff conduct a study on the cost of land and square footage of office space in Bishop, to investigate the option of purchasing, or building county-owned offices.
Currently the county is renting or leasing 44,000 square feet of office space in Bishop. It owns approximately 4,500 square feet in town.
In response, Juliff explained that county staff had done an extensive study, but didn’t want to discuss its findings during the public meeting. “We don’t want to give up our negotiating strategies,” he said.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 January 2008 )
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