Supes approve $10.6 million for facility upgrades

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Ambitious upgrades to the Public Defender’s Office in Santa Barbara and the Betteravia Government Center in Santa Maria were given the green light yesterday by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, who allocated $10.6 million to the projects.
In the Public Defender’s Office, located in the west wing of the County Courthouse, an elevator will be installed, 13,000 square-feet of office space will be remodeled and 2,742 square feet of recently vacated space will be taken over.
The total cost for the public defender project is $6 million, $4.5 million of which will come from the $10.6 million chunk the supervisors approved with a 4-0 vote yesterday. The remaining $1.5 million has already been budgeted for.


Grady Williams, manager of of capital projects in the county’s Department of General Services, said the need for increases and improvements in the Public Defender’s Office has existed for years.
Williams said one of the most glaring problems is that the Public Defender’s Office utilizes the second, third and fourth floors of the courthouse, but lacks an elevator. As a result, he said attorney’s are forced to lug their hefty case files up and down the stairs.
Due to limited filing space, Williams said stacks of files as high as 9-feet tall line some of the walls, creating an unsafe work environment.
“They’re just out of space and they don’t have the filing space and filing cabinets to be able to store,” Williams said.
Though Williams said he doesn’t know of anyone being injured as a result of the stacked files, he said: “I think it’s more like an accident waiting to happen.”
When the elevator is installed, it will officially end the life of the building’s aging heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, which Williams said will be replaced, but has been running on its last breath for quite some time.
“It’s going out,” Williams said. “The whole electrical system is old and dated and not capable of providing power needs when the elevator is put in.”
Williams the location of the reception desk, which is currently on the fourth floor, doesn’t serve the best interests of the Public Defender’s Office of the public.
Williams said people in search of the receptionist meander through the second floor, where the attorney’s are stationed, and often disrupt work.
He said the reception desk will be moved to a lower level and will be backed with locked doors, which it currently lacks.
The Betteravia Government Center, located at 511 E. Lakeside in Santa Maria, will receive $6.1 million of the approved money.
The improvements at the Betteravia center include the construction of a 9,500 square foot facility near the existing administration building and will house a new board of supervisors hearing room. According to the board agenda letter, the hearing room will resemble its south county counterpart at the county administration building at 105 E. Anapamu St.
Since none of the Betteravia project is currently funded, $400,000 will be borrowed from the Public Defender’s project in order to begin design work.
Second District Supervisor Janet Wolf said the borrowing was one of her major hang-ups with the project, but said she was satisfied with the proposed plan to funnel the $400,000 back after the loan is issued.
The $10.6 million will be produced through the sale of bond-like “certificates of participation,” and would be paid back over a 20-year period with annual payments from the general fund of about $900,000.
The $10.6 million will add to the county’s current level of debt, which according to the 2007-2008 county budget, is $76 million -- $63.47 million of which is connected to certificates of participation.
Both projects are slated for completion in 2010.