ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT / PUBLIC WORKS

Hall of Justice Seismic Retrofit

RECOMMENDATION 33: The San Mateo County 1999 Grand Jury recommends that the County Board of Supervisors direct the Director of Public Works to prepare a comprehensive time-phased plan for completion of the seismic retrofit and lead/asbestos abatement of the County Hall of Justice. Urgency should be placed on the development and implementation of the plan, including a detailed time-phased series of actions and the designation of personnel responsible for each action and associated deadlines. The plan should include details on office and employee relocation. The County Board of Supervisors should give high priority to implementation and funding of this program.

RESPONSE: Concur. The Director of Public Works will work with the Court on developing a tentative phasing plan that allows for the work to go forward on the 7^th and 8^th floors. A similar approach will be undertaken with the Probation Department for the 5^th Floor. However, a key aspect of this plan will be to identify additional funding sources. An additional $2.2 million will be required to complete the project. To date, the County has spent approximately $1.6 million in the design of the seismic retrofit plan, the remediation work that was done immediately after the Loma Prieta Earthquake, and for the work completed or under construction on the 4^th and 6^th floors. Public Works estimates that it will take approximately two years to complete the work once funding is identified and agreement with the Court and Probation is obtained.

Abatement work is generally done in conjunction with other work on the structure, as encapsulated lead and asbestos in the building will remain in place and does not present a threat to either the citizens visiting the Hall of Justice or employees.

Status of the County's response to this Grand Jury recommendation will be reported in the next quarterly report to the Board.

STATUS:

The Contractor, Gonsalves and Stronck, has completed the seismic retrofit of the 7^th floor. All work is mainly confined to the 8^th floor. The Contractor has demolished portions of walls and ceilings to expose structural steel, abated asbestos fireproofing and lead based paint, and removed toilet accessories and plumbing fixtures where new structural steel braced frames will occur. The Contractor has also started the installation of panel connections along the perimeter walls. The project is progressing as scheduled. The projected completion date for the 8^th floor seismic retrofit is June 2002. The start of the bid process for the 5th floor seismic retrofit is anticipated for June 2002.