02/13/1996 01:16 PM House CRA

 HB 409 - DEPT OF COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT                           
                                                                               
 CO-CHAIR AUSTERMAN told the committee that the Department of                  
 Administration had come up with estimated moving costs associated             
 with HB 409, for which the department would provide an explanation.           
                                                                               
 Number 0063                                                                   
                                                                               
 KEITH GERKEN, Architect, Central Office, Division of General                  
 Services, Department of Administration, referred to a hand-out                
 entitled "HB 409 Estimated Moving Costs" and said the costs were            
 based on actual expenditures for several moves within the last year           
 or two.   The hand-out portrayed how the department had arrived at            
 the unit cost of $5,000 per position.  Mr. Gerken explained that              
 actual costs varied tremendously, depending on the changes                    
 necessary.  However, the amounts averaged $5,060, which had been              
 rounded to $5,000.                                                            
                                                                               
 Number 0240                                                                   
                                                                               
 MR. GERKEN pointed out the estimate did not include significant               
 building changes; building code improvements that might be                    
 required; Adults with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility                    
 improvements that might be required; or purchasing of new computer            
 equipment or furniture.  He said it should be viewed as rule-of-              
 thumb, with different costs for smaller or larger moves.  It was as           
 accurate as the department could come up with, given the level of             
 information on what moves might be made.                                      
                                                                               
 Number 0298                                                                   
                                                                               
 REPRESENTATIVE PETE KOTT asked if the estimate included any                   
 administrative-type supplies.                                                 
                                                                               
 MR. GERKEN replied the moves were made with agencies absorbing                
 administrative costs of doing the work.  For example, there was no            
 overhead for a department to do design work or for construction               
 administration.  Mr. Gerken said the positions were in fairly small           
 increments of 10 - 30 people.  Essentially, there was no overhead;            
 the amounts were contractual costs.                                           
                                                                               
 Number 0355                                                                   
                                                                               
 REPRESENTATIVE KOTT asked if the estimate included items like                 
 changes in stationery, letterhead and so forth.                               
                                                                               
 MR. GERKEN replied no.  The Department of Administration had looked           
 at it purely as a moving cost.  For other programmatic impacts of             
 moving, each agency would have to identify those.                             
                                                                               
 Number 0387                                                                   
                                                                               
 REPRESENTATIVE KOTT wondered, if the move were to occur, whether it           
 would be administered by taking the low bid or would the state,               
 within the confines of its operations, make the move.                         
                                                                               
 MR. GERKEN responded that essentially, all the items were                     
 contractually acquired, based upon proposals.  Whether the bids               
 were formal or informal would depend on their size, with bids over            
 $25,000 apiece being formal.  The amounts, he said, were determined           
 by at least getting informal proposals from movers and contractors.           
 For phones and computers, he added, for the most part, there was an           
 existing, standing contract through Information Services.  For                
 example, to move a phone anywhere in Juneau, whether across the               
 room or across town, there was a unit price that had been bid on a            
 multi-year contract.  Basically, all the costs were competitively             
 acquired and done through contractors.                                        
                                                                               
 Number 0492                                                                   
                                                                               
 REPRESENTATIVE KIM ELTON referred to the proposed combination of              
 departments and said he had assumed, using Juneau as an example,              
 that one of two things would probably happen.  First, the likely              
 scenario would be that few positions would move from one building             
 to another.  A second, less likely scenario, would be needing to              
 find a building where the entire new department could be                      
 accommodated, for reasons of efficiency.  He asked Mr. Gerken to              
 address that.                                                                 
                                                                               
 Number 0558                                                                   
                                                                               
 MR. GERKEN replied that Representative Elton was trying to envision           
 the exact scenario in both Juneau and Anchorage, where most of the            
 estimated 160 positions were.  That, he said, was why the                     
 Department of Administration had included the amount of $25,000 in            
 each location, to actually prepare a space plan prior to a move.              
 There were a lot of questions, he said, in terms of the best fit,             
 where people logically should ultimately reside.  Mr. Gerken                  
 suggested that the agencies did not know who would actually go                
 where.  He thought there had been an effort in the agency analysis,           
 where they had come up with 160 positions to move, to try to place            
 next to each other those functions which needed to be adjacent.               
 However, they did not yet have a picture of that.  He did not know            
 how to answer that question.                                                  
                                                                               
 Number 0626                                                                   
                                                                               
 MR. GERKEN acknowledged that there would need to be, in the new               
 department, some sort of identity as to where they were.  He said             
 the department wanted to avoid leasing new space, preferring to               
 make use of what they already owned.  However, at least in Juneau,            
 that was probably not going to happen entirely.  One of the                   
 concerns was lack of an elevator in the existing DCRA building.  It           
 was an old building and could not be significantly remodeled                  
 without some higher expense than that already being considered.  It           
 would take a practical approach to make a shift that did not                  
 escalate the cost beyond current estimates.  However, Mr. Gerken              
 said, he did not yet have enough information to make that leap.               
                                                                               
 Number 0727                                                                   
                                                                               
 JEFFREY W. BUSH, Deputy Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner,             
 Department of Commerce and Economic Development (DCED), discussed             
 the department's estimate of 160 people who would tentatively be              
 moved under HB 409.  It was a very rough number, Mr. Bush stated.             
 He explained that DCED had taken the premise that the sponsor's               
 intent was to create a cohesive economic development department.              
 Those people would be put in one place, with everything else                  
 shaking out from there.                                                       
                                                                               
 Number 0764                                                                   
                                                                               
 MR. BUSH explained that the minimum amount of moves possible was              
 proposed, moving people to create space for the new department.               
 The intent was that the existing space, both in Anchorage and                 
 Juneau, would be utilized.  There would not be new space.  For                
 example, the DCRA building would either be used for the new                   
 department or for a unit from another department that could stand             
 alone, such as the Division of Occupational Licensing.                        
                                                                               
 Number 0818                                                                   
                                                                               
 REPRESENTATIVE ELTON expressed that for private people, a change in           
 a building would trigger new requirements such as adequate parking.           
 He asked if that applied when the state changed the use of one of             
 its existing buildings.                                                       
                                                                               
 MR. BUSH replied that was a question probably better asked of Mr.             
 Gerken.  He said, for example, there were ADA concerns with the               
 existing DCRA building.  They could not, in essence, move walls or            
 perform structural changes without running into ADA problems.  They           
 therefore had assumed they would not do that.                                 
                                                                               
 Number 0871                                                                   
                                                                               
 CO-CHAIR AUSTERMAN asked if there were questions; there were none.            
 He informed the committee that no further testimony would be taken            
 that day on HB 409.  On Thursday, February 22, the committee                  
 planned to take amendments and then vote on the bill.