BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 450 N Street, Room 121 Sacramento, California REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT JULY 21, 2009 ITEM P3C2 OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS ADMINISTRATION FACILITIES UPDATE AND DIRECTION Reported by: Beverly D. Toms No. CSR 1662 1 1 2 P R E S E N T 3 4 For the Board Betty Yee of Equalization: Chair 5 Steve Shea 6 Acting Member 7 Bill Leonard Member 8 Michelle Steel 9 Member 10 Marcy Jo Mandel Appearing for John 11 Chiang, State Controller (per Government Code 12 Section 7.9) 13 Diane Olson Chief, Board 14 Proceedings Division 15 Board of Equalization 16 Staff: Liz Houser 17 18 ---oOo--- 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 Sacramento, California 2 July 21, 2009 3 ---oOO--- 4 MS. HOUSER: My next item is an update on the 5 ongoing projects at the 450 N Street. 6 MS. YEE: Okay. 7 MS. HOUSER: Work continues on the 4th and 11th 8 floors and the elevator shafts. DGS's consultants, 9 Stantec Architecture, Incorporated, completed the BOE 10 building infrastructure study and provided copies in 11 early July. 12 The executive summary states that the study was 13 intended to be a rapid review of the existing conditions 14 of the building where only vital assessments were 15 performed. 16 For recommended repairs, including structural, 17 electrical, mechanical, fire and life safety and facade 18 maintenance, Stantec estimates the initial cost would be 19 approximately $10.6 million. 20 In addition, Stantec highlighted an area of 21 concern that the curtainwall exterior gaskets and 22 sealant will need to be periodically replaced at all 23 framing glazing joints on all facades. This work will 24 likely need to be carried out in conjunction with the 25 curtainwall repairs, within 8 -- within 8 to 13 years. 26 The curtainwall was last repaired in 2006-7, 27 therefore new repairs will need to begin as early as 28 2014. 3 1 DGS is working on protocols to ensure this 2 ongoing maintenance work occurs. Funding will also need 3 to be identified to cover this new expense. 4 Without a comprehensive maintenance plan, there 5 would be a risk of window failure. I believe we have a 6 speaker on the elevator issue before I complete the 7 facility. Do you want to -- do you want me to take 8 questions on this or -- 9 MS. YEE: Let me -- Ms. Smith, you want to make 10 a comment at this point? 11 ---oOo--- 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4 1 BOBBI SMITH. 2 MS. SMITH: Yes, I hadn't planned on saying 3 anything today until I had what I'm going to refer to as 4 an elevator incident. 5 I mentioned before, I believe, that there's 6 elevator number 6 that I had a problem with once, and 7 I've avoided it. 8 Well, today I had to meet my daughter for lunch 9 so I took elevator 6, and it appears to be running 10 smoothly and then it seems to drop a few inches and then 11 stop suddenly. 12 And all of us in the elevator felt our backs 13 were jarred from this sudden stopping, and I -- I have 14 to commend the building people that are in charge of the 15 elevators. They did get us out of there in a very few 16 minutes, but it becomes apparent to me that the mold has 17 been here for a long time. It's going to continue to be 18 here for a long time. We need to have these elevators 19 taken out of production or service and have all the 20 repairs done to them before someone is critically 21 injured in one of these elevators. 22 This is not something that we can continue to 23 gamble that, oh, they're are going to work today. And 24 while I was in the boardroom someone told me that they 25 had a problem with elevator number 6 yesterday, also. 26 So, this particular elevator is definitely a 27 threat to the safety of the employees in this building. 28 And I would recommend that we put off the mold 5 1 remediation and have these elevators dealt with now 2 instead of somewhere down the line in the planned work 3 here at the Board. 4 MS. YEE: Okay. Thank you very much. 5 MR. LEONARD: What is the status -- 6 MS. YEE: Ms. -- Ms. Houser, yeah, the -- 7 MS. HOUSER: Elevator 6 -- elevators -- the 8 elevators were doing okay for a short time there, but 9 obviously we're having problems again. Elevator 6 has 10 been taken out of service and Thyssenkrupp is here 11 working on it now. 12 As you know, we have been working with DGS to 13 try to get the elevator modernization project moved up 14 on the list. They are in the process of procuring a 15 contract to do the modernization. They provided a broad 16 scope of work that would be replacing all controller 17 units, replacing the analog generators, replacing the 18 hoist way -- wiring, the car wiring, all switches. 19 Replace and rebuild the door locks, the rotors, the 20 motors and the guides, the counterweight systems, the 21 hoist machine motors. Upgrade the cars with new code 22 required for safety equipment. Install a voice 23 announcement for each floor. Replace the car switch 24 panels and add signature fixtures. And replace all the 25 cables. 26 So they do have a bid out to try to get someone 27 in here to do this. It is, unfortunately, a State 28 procurement process that takes some time. 6 1 In our conversations with DGS, they indicated 2 that it can take up to six months to simply get the 3 parts in. So, that's kind of the situation we have with 4 them now in regard to these elevators, and we have asked 5 that they expedite the modernization project on the 6 elevators. And they're indicating they're moving it 7 along as quickly as they can. 8 We will continue to put pressure on them that 9 when an elevator has a problem it must be taken out of 10 service and addressed immediately. And we'll continue 11 to encourage BOE employees whenever you have an elevator 12 that is not riding properly or feels unusual, please 13 report it to someone of -- in my staff and on the event 14 report so that we can get someone to look at it. 15 Had someone reported the unusual feel in 16 elevator 6 yesterday we would have had it taken down and 17 would have, hopefully, avoided your injury today. 18 So I'm very sorry that you were injured in the 19 elevator. 20 MS. SMITH: Thank you. 21 MS. YEE: Okay. Mr. Leonard. 22 MR. LEONARD: I didn't hear you say a date. 23 What does General Service tell us is a date to get a -- 24 award a bid? I mean, give me a -- pick a target here, 25 award a bid. 26 MS. HOUSER: They haven't given us a date yet 27 but I will see if I can get one out of -- I will see 28 what we can do to get a date from them. 7 1 MR. LEONARD: At one time I heard that they -- 2 it was a six-month wait because they had to fabricate 3 the parts, but they knew what the parts were and they 4 were trying to go ahead and order the parts in advance 5 of the service contract. Have they done that? 6 MS. HOUSER: I don't know that. I need to -- I 7 tried to get someone in from DGS today once Ms. Smith 8 had shared with me that she'd had an incident. But the 9 person we need to have come in is not on site today. 10 So, the building manager had to be out of the 11 building this afternoon so they -- they were not able to 12 give us an immediate status. 13 But we will follow up and I'll report back on 14 where they are on the date. 15 MR. LEONARD: Thank you. 16 MS. YEE: Thank you. 17 MS. HOUSER: Okay. Back to my report. I want 18 to do an update on the site selection. Work is 19 progressing on schedule. We are waiting for the final 20 costing from the building owners, which will determine 21 the choice -- chosen site. 22 According to the DGS estimate, we are on track 23 to move the 630 employees to the new site in May 2010. 24 So, I'd be happy to any other -- answer any 25 questions you have on the facility or the site search. 26 MS. YEE: Okay. Any questions? 27 MR. LEONARD: I do have one. 28 MS. YEE: Mr. Leonard. Yes. 8 1 MR. LEONARD: You mentioned a new expert that 2 I'm not sure I'd heard of before, that -- 3 MS. HOUSER: Oh, Stantec. I'm sorry -- with 4 the elevators. 5 MR. LEONARD: Stantec. Yeah. 6 MS. HOUSER: Yes. Stan -- 7 MR. LEONARD: Who are they and -- 8 MS. HOUSER: Stantec Architecture, 9 Incorporated, they were the company that -- that DGS, 10 the consultant that DGS hired to perform the 11 infrastructure study. And that's what we have, a very 12 thick report and they -- an executive -- written 13 executive summary on all of the things that Stantec's 14 reports needs to be done in the building from an 15 infrastructure standpoint, which DGS had been promising 16 us in addition to the mold so that we can get a full 17 picture on what type of money needs to be dedicated to 18 this building to address not only the mold remediation 19 but the elevator repairs and the other infrastructure 20 repairs. 21 MR. LEONARD: I assume that's a public 22 document. 23 MS. HOUSER: Yes, it is. 24 MR. LEONARD: Has it been posted, available? 25 MS. HOUSER: At this point they have only given 26 us a hard copy and it -- I didn't know they make 27 five-inch binders but apparently they did because that's 28 what it came in. 9 1 So, to scan it would be quite a challenge, so 2 we are asking them to send us an electronic copy of it 3 so that it could be posted to EBOE. 4 MR. LEONARD: What caught my ear was your 5 report of their recommendation that the curtainwall 6 needs to be maintained, and that we should look at 2014 7 as -- as a budget year for budgeting maintenance work on 8 the curtain. I think that's good for employees to know 9 that -- that all buildings are going to be maintained 10 and we're -- we've got an infrastructure scheduled to do 11 that for every aspect. If they're as thorough in other 12 areas as they are with the curtainwall to name dates and 13 life cycles, I think that would be very informative. 14 I'd like to learn more. 15 MS. HOUSER: Okay. If it would please the 16 Board, I could invite Stantec to come and make a brief 17 executive summary similar to what we did with LaCroix 18 Davis. If that's something that you'd be interested in 19 I could invite them to a future meeting. 20 MR. LEONARD: You want to hold it in car number 21 6? Or maybe the boardroom. 22 MS. HOUSER: Okay. 23 MS. YEE: Might have a little better attendance 24 here. Okay. Thank you. 25 ---oOo--- 26 27 28 10 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE. 2 3 State of California ) 4 ) ss 5 County of Sacramento ) 6 7 I, BEVERLY D. TOMS, Hearing Reporter for the 8 California State Board of Equalization certify that on 9 July 21, 2009 I recorded verbatim, in shorthand, to the 10 best of my ability, the proceedings in the 11 above-entitled hearing; that I transcribed the shorthand 12 writing into typewriting; and that the preceding 10 13 pages constitute a complete and accurate transcription 14 of the shorthand writing. 15 16 Dated: August 19, 2009. 17 18 19 ____________________________ 20 BEVERLY D. TOMS 21 Hearing Reporter 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 11