Title
Chief Administrative Office recommending the Board, jointly with the City of Placerville, dissolve the Blue Ribbon Committee which was formed to explore the potential re-uses for the Main Street Courthouse once the court functions were relocated to the New Courthouse.
FUNDING: N/A
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
On September 9, 2014, the Board of Supervisors approved a recommendation which directed staff to coordinate with the City of Placerville to form a "Blue Ribbon Committee" to explore potential re-uses for the Main Street Courthouse once the court functions relocated to the New Courthouse next to the County Jail in Placerville. At the time that the Blue Ribbon Committee was formed, the New Courthouse was scheduled for completion in 2018.
On June 27, 2018, when the State's 2018 Budget Act was passed, the judicial branch courthouse construction program was allocated $1.3 billion for the continuing phases of 10 courthouse capital projects. Unfortunately, El Dorado County was not one of the 10 counties allocated funding under this program. Additionally, the Budget Act changed the source of funding from the Immediate and Critical Needs Account (ICNA) of the State Court Facilities Construction Fund to the General Fund. Moving forward, there will be a funding challenge for all courthouse capital projects as they will have to compete for General Fund dollars.
Senate Bill 847 was attached to the 2018 Budget Act and mandated that the Judicial Council conduct a reassessment of all its capital projects that were not fully funded through the 2018 Budget Act. This reassessment to develop and submit a new Trial Court Capital-Outlay Plan for funding is due by December 31, 2019. The Judicial Council will be visually inspecting all of El Dorado County's (both state and county owned) trial court facilities to update their court facility condition assessments and translate this updated information into a Facility Condition Index that could be factored into the scoring of a future capital project.
In light of these changes relative to the Courthouse funding, the future of the New Courthouse is unknown. The County will not have any indication of potential funding until 2020. Due to the length of time between now and any future possibility, the County recommends that the Blue Ribbon Committee be disbanded at this time. Once the new Trial Court Capital-Outlay plan is completed and if El Dorado County is granted funding for a New Courthouse, the need for a Blue Ribbon Committee will be re-assessed.
ALTERNATIVES
The Blue Ribbon Committee could remain in place and remain dormant until the future of the New Courthouse is determined. Staff is not recommending this option simply due to the length of time and uncertainty around the funding for a New Courthouse. The Committee membership may not be represented correctly after this amount of time as residents may move out of the City and business owners may change. The Committee is made up of three (3) City of Placerville Residents, three (3) County Residents and four (4) Placerville Business Owners with at least one being on the Placerville Downtown Association.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
The City of Placerville will be bringing forth a recommendation to dissolve the Blue Ribbon Committee at their September 25, 2018, Council meeting.
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
It is recommended that the Board approve this item.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact associated with this item.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
N/A
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Good Governance
CONTACT
Laura Schwartz