Give them their space: Ellis County employees want more room to work with

By STACIE R. SANDALL

Hays Daily News

All they need is a little room to grow. Ellis County employees in nearly every department are weary of working in tight spaces, and their anticipated growth within the next five to 10 years will only make matters worse.

A space needs committee was formed around six years ago in order to battle this problem. The county hired architectural firm Stecklein and Brungardt to analyze the space at hand and the requirements each department and office need to fulfill to run efficiently, and to come up with possible ways those requirements can be fulfilled for current usage and usage anticipated by potential growth.

That analysis was complete in January of 2001 after a year of work.

“When I was first elected to the (space needs) committee six years ago, I went around to the department heads and visited with them to see what they felt were shortfalls within their department and what resources they needed,” said committee member and county commissioner Christopher Channell. “It was the common theme with everyone I talked to that everyone needed more space.”

It wasn't just storage space they needed, it was space to actually function in.

“Our priority right now has to be on work room. People have to have space to do their job instead of having to wait to use a desk or computer,” said Channell.

For example, Channell said, the information technology department is like a closet, the EMS crews are crawling all over each other, especially during departmental meetings, and the health department would like to offer more types of services, but space is limited.

“We're pretty well crowded. (administrative assistant Marilyn Kuhn) and I share the same office. We would like to get bigger facilities so we can try to expand our services. I am sure at some point the commissioners will get that done,” said health department administrator Butch Schlyer.

Schlyer thought it would be nice to offer some regular exercise classes and provide the county with a mid-level practitioner. A mid-level practitioner could assess jail inmates with their medical needs and also provide basic low-cost medical care services for people who don't have insurance or can't afford doctor's visits.

Currently the health department has 1,613 square feet of usable space. An amount of 3,820 square feet is proposed.

Another priority issue with county facilities surrounds the Ellis shop.

“The Ellis shop is something we have discussed in the past and will continue to discus for a while. The roof needs corrected before it totally falls in and becomes too unsafe to use,” Channell said. “The shop is housed in an old railroad structure. It has a sentimental value to a lot of Ellis residents, and they would like to see it maintained.”

According to the assessment, the current county operations are “in dire need of expansion” and the county needs to meet added space requirements to more effectively accommodate current usage and future projections.

But making any decision will have to wait until all the required information is available to the committee and is reviewed.

“We don't want to rush into making any decisions. We don't want to just meet the needs of the time. We also want to meet future needs of the departments,” Channell said.

But not every office is proposing a change, and not all proposals are for increased space.

The county's grand total of net assignable area, usable space within each room, is 94,278 square feet. The total gross building area, total square footage needed to support the NASF, is 131,140 square feet.

The assessment stated that in order to adequately accommodate current and future space use needs, the a total of 129,215 square-foot net assignable area — which converts to a gross building area requirement of 187,892 square feet — is needed.

Breaking those numbers down, the three departments in the most need of more room to breathe are the county court services, sheriff's office and Hays Police Department.

Hays Police Chief Jim Braun said the department has outgrown the building and needs more space to do its work.

The police department shares the building with the sheriff's office.

“We work well together,” Braun said.

The two entities share the DUI processing facility, the communications center, the holding cells and other facilities. The shared training room has become too small for both entities to use. Its capacity is 24 people, so space is a problem during departmental meetings.

“There are so many different options right now. We are researching all of them. We want that balance between maintaining our working relationship with the sheriff's department and expanding our workspace,” Braun said.

The department is housed in 2,868 square feet of space. It is proposed that it would require 6,199 square feet to function at its potential.

Ellis County Sheriff's Office currently has 11,482 square feet, and 20,433 square feet is proposed.

Sheriff Ed Harbin, also a member of the space needs committee, agreed with Braun, saying that their building has served fine for 25 years, but because of the growth his office needs more room.

“Our basic space needs revolves around the jail. We have inmates from in and out of county,” Harbin said.

Harbin said that with more room, there would be more people off the street that belonged behind bars.

The current cell space allows for 30 inmates.

“We want it to last 25 to 30 years before anyone has to do anything again,” Harbin said. “Safety and security are our top issues.”

Other expansions Harbin thinks are necessary are storage, office space and communications.

In other departments, the appraiser's office has 2,201 square feet of usage. The proposed amount is 3,927 square feet. The attorney's office has 1,234 square feet and is proposed for 2,419 square feet.

The treasurer's office has 2,355 square feet of NASF. A total of 4,600 square feet has been proposed. The clerk's office now has 2,986 square feet, but a total of 3,586 square feet is necessary, according to the report.

The computer information systems currently has 658 square feet, register of deeds 1,468 square feet and court systems 5,979 square feet, but the totals of 1,373, 1,846 and 10,245 were proposed, respectively.

Emergency management would like to use 2,571 square feet instead of 1,514, and the Ellis County Rural Fire Department Office would like to use 424 square feet, as opposed to 212.

The law enforcement custodial may increase from 570 to 907 square feet.

The Hays, Ellis and Victoria fire stations currently utilize 6,620 square feet, but proposed space increases might allow them 11,870. The Hays EMS station could expand from 3,494 to 7,016 square feet.

As for the road and bridge departments, the Hays department would like to see an increase from 13,542 to 17,634 square feet. Noxious weeds could better utilize 3,354 instead of its current 3,104.

Court services at 1205 Fort have 1,342 square feet and 1,813 has been proposed for it to use.

Those without a proposed size change are the Ellis and Victoria EMS stations, Extension service, environmental department office, historical society, law library, courthouse custodial, commission chambers and the Munjor, Schoenchen, Beach Ranch and south of Ellis rural fire stations.

Some entities have a proposed decrease in size. Red Cross at 103 E. 27th has 2,055 square feet of usable space and has been proposed for 1,846. The county landfill may have a decrease from 2,533 to 2,384 square feet. The road and bridge department may see a decrease from 12,019 to 7,560 square feet.

The report cited only two viable options: building additions and/or replacements of the current facilities with larger buildings, or relocate some departments into new or other remodeled facilities and expand the departments remaining in their current locations.

Building expansions might be feasible with some departments or offices, such as the courthouse, law enforcement center of public works department buildings. But limitations due to parking, access and lack of surrounding property pose problems.

Officials must decide which departments or offices must remain in their current locations and which can easily be relocated.

“We can relocate some offices to a property at 22nd and Vine, or look at selling that off as an investment and leave that money for some other project,” Channell said. “The Tholen property on 12th Street has been utilized as a storage area. It's alleviated the storage problem within the courthouse.”

Part of the jail cell floor had been used for storage, which was a problem for county employees. Anyone needing anything from that storage had to pass by the inmates and sometimes endure harassment.

Channell said the county can utilize that space to enhance the jail. Therefore, they will have room for their current census and not have to ship them out of county. They will have room to take in out-of-county inmates as well.

“We have been approached by several different organizations that have buildings they would like us to consider as potential answers to the space needs assessment,” Channell said.

“We're not trying to build a Taj Mahal, we're just trying to meet the needs of the employees of the county and allow them to let them do their jobs in the most efficient manner possible.”

Reporter Stacie Sandall can be reached at (785) 628-1081, ext. 136, or by e-mail at ssandall@dailynews.net.