Bonding approved for court relocation
17-1 vote advances move from Kingston to town of Ulster
With little comment and only a single “no” vote, the Ulster County Legislature on Monday approved the roughly $9 million in bonding necessary to advance the largest countyfunded construction project since the Law Enforcement Center.
Voting 17-1, legislators approved the issuance of $7,963,910 in bonds for the creation of a new Ulster County Family Court along with $1.08 million in bonds for roof repairs at the Ulster County Business Resource Center in the town of Ulster, which will house the new facilities.
The county previously approved roughly $1.3 million for the project for the architect and construction manager bringing the total cost of the project to $10.3 million, slightly less than the
$10.8 million that originally was forecast.
The lone dissenting vote for the bonding came from Legislator Manna Jo Greene, who said she was dismayed the county wasn’t upgrading the building’s roof to support solar panels.
County officials have said that upgrade would have added roughly $70,000 to project and would have resulted in a minimal return. Additionally, they said, several other departments housed in the building would have to have been moved while the upgrades were done.
“I think that it was short-sighted, despite the explanation that was given ... to not strengthen the support structure,” said Greene, D-Rosendale.
Luis Rodriguez, president of The Palumbo Group, which will serve as the county’s project manager for the Family Court effort, said he expects work to begin Nov. 17 and that the new Family Court should be up and running by Jan. 1, 2019.
That means the court will remain in its current location, at 16 Lucas Ave. in the city of Kingston, for four months beyond the expiration of its lease.
The county could have put the project on a fast track for an additional $70,000, but Rodriguez recommended against it, saying the savings between what the county pays in rent and what it would save by fast-tracking the project would be only about $5,000, Also, he said, if the work were to be fast-tracked and the accelerated deadlines not met, the county would lose that money and potentially face other costs.
“I’m going to try to keep the accelerated schedule without paying for it,” he said. “For five grand, why try to crunch this thing and potentially fail?”
Rodriguez said that although the target date for completion of the work is December 2018, he hopes to see the project finished a month earlier.
Legislature Minority Leader Hector Rodriguez (no relation to Luis Rodriguez) said that although the county government “is very different” from when the jail was built, legislators still “need to be watchful as the project proceeds.”
“We’re a very different county from when the jail was built ... but it’s a large expenditure, and this one is all on us,” said Rodriguez, D-New Paltz.
Construction of Ulster County Law Enforcement Center, which house the county jail and Sheriff’s Office, ran some $38 million over budget and was finished three years behind schedule.
The Law Enforcement Center, which is in Kingston, was built before Ulster County moved to a county executive form of government, and the project was overseen by legislative committees. County Executive Michael Hein has said that since he took office, all of the county’s public works projects have come in on time and within their budgets.
Ulster County is moving its Family Court, with voter approval last year, in response to increasing pressure from the state Office of Court Administration, which called the current facility “wholly inadequate.”
Legislators Peter Loughran, D-Kingston, David Donaldson, D-Kingston, James Delaune, D-New Paltz and Richard Parete, a Democrat from Accord who caucuses with the Republicans, were absent from Monday’s meeting.