Linn County Offices Report

Five Administrative Office Building Options Public Input Results Linn County Board of Supervisors November 16, 2009 ■ ■ ■

strategic

communications

DAN WIESE MARKETING RESEARCH

Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

PURPOSE Integrated Communications Strategies was hired by the Linn County Board of Supervisors to facilitate a public input process regarding the future, long-term location of Linn County’s Administrative Office Building. The purpose of this process was to rank the preferences of Linn County Residents for the evaluation criteria identified for the new facility and using that criteria, their preferred location of the Linn County Administrative Office Building.

PROCESS To provide additional information to the public regarding the five Administrative Office Building (AOB) options and the associated funding for each location, the following plan and process were developed and implemented from October 6-November 13, 2009: 1) An information piece about the five AOB options and the associated funding for each was distributed to: • More than 37,000 households as an insert in The Gazette on October 22 • 3,000 Linn County households as an insert in the Linn Newsletter • Interested persons at the Linn County West office information desk • Participants in the five open houses and three focus groups.

3) 35,000 Linn County voters were contacted via “robocalls” regarding the open houses. 4) Five, two-hour public open houses were held at the following locations October 26-30th: • Mt. Vernon Middle School • Cleveland Elementary School • Carl and Mary Koehler History Center • Marion City Hall • Hiawatha Senior Center. 5) Focus groups were held November 2-5, with randomly selected representatives of the following Linn County stakeholder groups: • Linn County residents • Linn County businesses • Linn County employees.

2) Local media campaign promoting the five open houses and on-line survey: • KMRY FM radio • WMT AM radio • KZIA radio

6) An online survey was available to Linn County residents via the Linn County website from October 22-November 4. Participants were asked to rate the five options and then to rank their preferences among the five options.

• Print ad in the Mt. Vernon Sun News and area shopper • Print ad in the Marion Times • Column and ad in The Gazette insert encouraged participation.

7) The same survey was completed by attendees of the five public open houses.

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

RESULTS SUMMARY Three hundred twenty-eight (328) residents of Linn County completed online surveys regarding the five AOB options. Two hundred and eighty three residents (283) attended the open houses—most of which fully completed a survey. (Surveys only partially completed were not considered.). The first thing asked of the public was to give their opinion on how much importance the Linn County Board of Supervisors should give specific criteria in evaluating the building options. The table below displays their answers.

Very High Importance

High Importance

Some Importance

Little or No Importance

No Answer

Customer Service (accessible location, good parking)

64.2%

22.3%

9%

3%

1.4%

Environmental (sustainability, energy efficiency, flood protection)

48.2%

33.1%

13.9%

2.8%

2%

Cost (purchase, renovation, lifecycle)

39.8%

35.9%

19.4%

1.8%

2.8%

Technical (size of building, meets building codes and standards)

36.7%

41.3%

16.4%

3.2%

2.1%

Customer service is the criterion they believe should be given the greatest importance, followed by environmental. Cost and technical are given less importance, but as shown in the chart below, all the criteria have at least some importance. Few believe any of the criteria is of little or no importance.

Importance

%

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Very High High Some Little or No Importance No Answer Customer Service

Environmental

Cost

Technical

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

Next, residents were asked to rate the different choices for Linn County offices. Below are their answers for each of the five options.

OPTION #1 Repair 2008 Flood Damage to Administrative Office Building (Estimated net cost—$0)

Option #1

Total

Outstanding choice

14.7%

Good choice

10.8%

Acceptable choice

19.4%

Poor choice

22.9%

Unacceptable choice

29.5%

No answer

2.7% Sample Size

564

2.7%

14.7% 29.5%

10.8%

19.4%

Outstanding Good Acceptable Poor Unacceptable No Answer

22.99%

Option 1 is considered at least acceptable by 45% of those who rated it. It is rated unacceptable by 30%.

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

OPTION #2 Renovate and Expand Existing Administrative Office Building (Estimated net cost—$186,099 to $8,987,446 dependent upon I-JOBS funding.)

Option #2

Total

Outstanding choice

18.7%

Good choice

13.7%

Acceptable choice

13.2%

Poor choice

24.2%

Unacceptable choice

27.2%

No answer

3% Sample Size

564

3%

18.7% 27.2% 13.7%

24.2%

Outstanding Good Acceptable Poor Unacceptable No Answer

13.2%

This option, to renovate and expand the current Administrative Office Building is at least acceptable to 46% of those who answered and considered unacceptable to 27%

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

OPTION #3 Purchase and Renovate Former Steve and Barry’s Retail Space at Westdale Mall (Estimated net cost of $14,563,350)

Option #3

Total

Outstanding choice

19.9%

Good choice

16.5%

Acceptable choice

19.0%

Poor choice

23.6%

Unacceptable choice

19.2%

No answer

1.8% Sample Size

564

1.8%

19.2%

19.9%

16.5% 23.6%

Outstanding Good Acceptable Poor Unacceptable No Answer

19%

Option 3, to renovate and stay in the current Steve and Barry’s location, is at least acceptable to 55% of those answering. It is unacceptable to 19%.

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

OPTION #4 Purchase and Renovate Former EconoFoods Grocery Space (Estimated net cost of $13,388,297)

Option #4

Total

Outstanding choice

18.9%

Good choice

17.6%

Acceptable choice

20.1%

Poor choice

22.6%

Unacceptable choice

18.9%

No answer

2% Sample Size

564

2%

18.9%

18.9%

17.6% 22.6%

Outstanding Good Acceptable Poor Unacceptable No Answer

20.1%

Option #4 is considered at least acceptable by 57% and unacceptable by 19%.

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

OPTION #5 Co-Location with City of Cedar Rapids and/or Cedar Rapids School District (Estimated net cost of $13,023,250)

Option #5

Total

Outstanding choice

10.7%

Good choice

11.9%

Acceptable choice

21.7%

Poor choice

22.2%

Unacceptable choice

29.7%

No answer

3.8% Sample Size

564

3.8%

10.7% 11.9% 29.7%

21.7%

Outstanding Good Acceptable Poor Unacceptable No Answer

22.2%

44% of residents answering the survey said this option is at least acceptable to them. It is unacceptable to 30%.

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

The table below summarizes the ratings given to the five options. The graph visualizes the findings.

Outstanding

Good

Acceptable

Poor

Unacceptable

No Answer

OPTION 1: Repair AOB

14.7%

10.8%

19.4%

22.9%

29.5%

2.7%

OPTION 2: Expand AOB

18.7%

13.7%

13.2%

24.2%

27.2%

3%

OPTION 3: Steve and Barry’s

19.6%

16.5%

19.0%

23.6%

19.2%

1.8%

OPTION 4: EconoFoods

18.9%

17.6%

20.1%

22.6%

18.9%

2%

OPTION 5: Co-locate

10.7%

11.9%

21.7%

22.2%

29.7%

3.8%

Ratings

30 25 20

%

Outstanding Good Acceptable Poor Unacceptable No Answer

15 10 5 0

Option #1

Option #2

Option #3

Option #4

Option #5

Repair AOB

Expand AOB

Steve and Barry’s

EconoFoods

Co-Locate

Options 2, 3, and 4 have the highest ratings with no clear-cut concensus. Option 1, repairing the existing AOB, is next best, with Option 5, co-location, clearly the least well rated option.

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

Next respondents were asked to rank the five options. They were asked to indicate their first, second and third ranking choice. The tables to the right show the rankings.

First Choice

Total

Option 3: Steve and Barry’s

25.5%

Option 2: Expand AOB

24.1%

Option 4: EconoFoods

21.5%

Option 1: Repair AOB

17%

Option 5: Co-location

10.5%

No answer

1.1% Sample Size

Second Choice

564

Total

Option 3: Steve and Barry’s

22.3%

Option 2: Expand AOB

19.7%

Option 4: EconoFoods

24.1%

Option 1: Repair AOB

19.7%

Option 5: Co-location

10.1%

No answer

2.8% Sample Size

564

Third Choice

Total

Option 3: Steve and Barry’s

20%

Option 2: Expand AOB

12.1%

Option 4: EconoFoods

17.4%

Option 1: Repair AOB

11.7%

Option 5: Co-location

25.9%

No answer

9.8% Sample Size

564

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

The graph below illustrates the rankings.

Rankings

30 25 20

First Choice Second Choice Third Choice

% 15 10 5 0

Option #3 Option #2

Option #4

Option #1 Option #5

Steve and Expand AOB EconoFoods Repair AOB Barry’s

Co-Locate

It is apparent from the graph that Options 3, 2 and 4 stand out. Option 1 is less well ranked and Option 5 is clearly the also ran among the five. In evaluating this data, it is apparent that while there is some differentiation between the building options, they all have their champions and detractors. There is no clear-cut concensus.

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

Below are some representative comments from supporters of the various options in explaining why they made their rankings.

First choice is Option 1: Repair AOB • I don’t want any more debt. • No cost. • Money is tight! I feel this choice is the smartest. We are all having to conserve, cut back and government should, too. • A “no brainer” minimal costs involved. Minimal flood damage. It just makes sense to move back like the courthouse, jail and many other businesses have done. • Cost, not loosing tax base. • Already own the building. Never had any problem with parking. No additional cost. I’ve found everything there sufficient. • Cost. Central (downtown) location. Gives square feet they say they need. • Do not ask tax payers to come up with 9 million (or more depending on the option) to pay for upgrades when flood protection for citizens has not been provided as yet. • No more dollars. • Very low cost to the taxpayer—existing building will be flood protected—no reason not to return. • Least expensive. Like location—centralized and close to my home.

First choice is Option 2: Renovate and Expand AOB • Reuses an existing building and meets space needs. • The building is there. Used to go to that location. Cheapest. • For only 186,000.00, there is more possibilities for little money. The building should stay where it’s at. • Good space—familiar location—costs! Good resale value if gets too small. • Gives needs for future expansion. If funding comes through an economical choice. • Costs, future of location, accessibility. • Cost. Central (downtown) location. Gives square feet they say they need. • Most cost effective and meets needs now and future. • It’s the most reasonable. • No land purchased needed. Expansion of square feet should cover future needs. • If Penford doesn’t want the building/land and as long as flood protection is there, might as well stay there. • I’m torn between Option 2 and 3. • Overall cost and degree of satisfaction for meeting the long range needs of the county.

strategic communications • Because the possibility of still getting I-Jobs. So no new taxes. Don’t have to bring it up to a vote.

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

First choice is Option 3: Steve and Barry’s • Location. Parking spaces. Size. May help Westdale. • Location, parking, room for future growth. • #3 is accessible—good for handicapped—lots of parking and favored by various department heads. • There’s a lot of room and parking and the second floor has room for many other departments, such as health department and others. • Accessibility, size of building, can have many offices there, great parking. • The building space—square feet. Parking, accessibility. • Have been there. Easier access. More space. No flooding. Employees like it also. • Location, location, location. • Already there. • Plenty of parking, easily accessible, did not flood and probably never will. Provides additional space to expand into during the 20 years of the bond. • Every office of Linn Co. is in one place. It’s easy to access and lots of parking. It helps the stores that are there—it brings more customers to them. • Plenty of space for expansion. Sufficient parking. Could help Westdale Mall come back to full capacity.

First choice is Option 4: EconoFoods • Easily accessible. More centrally located to rest of county. Parking close by. Options for expansion, rent for additional space. All services located together. • Central location for county—good 380 route. Plenty of parking. Could renovate to be efficient over others. • Accessibility to all of Linn as most of the county is north of Cedar Rapids. Tax impact is more acceptable. Parking would not be a foreseeable problem. • Option 4—good location, lots of space for added county offices. Inside of building is a blank slate, also space for future building. Good location to I-380. Good access from other towns. • Location, parking, ability to possibly lease some space. Keeping city and county separate. • EconoFoods—no disruption of current operations during renovation. Easy access via roads. Closest proposed site to center of county. Adequate parking. Bus access negotiable with city. Building easily handicap accessible. Easy to incorporate renewable energy (PV, front canopy, for example). • I do not have a strong preference. The co-location may be good for the long run; it is not needed now. The grocery store seems all around solution—size and parking. • Locating more services closer together will save more money in long run. Good parking. It’s away from flood. • Customers love easy access with plenty of parking. • Good location; good size; good for public. • Good location, good parking, room for growth.

strategic communications • Good location. Plenty of parking. Utilizes an empty building.

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

First choice is Option 5: Co-location • Convenient for all—will be popular. • It just makes sense. It not only improves customer service to our public, it also allows shared services that will help with improved efficiencies. • Empty building—able to design and configure space/offices without interruption. Ample parking planned. • Environmentally agreeable planning/energy efficiency/segregate government units/one level. • Some taxpayers money in long run. More efficient operations. More convenient services. Opportunity for legacy. Opportunity for economic development. • Co-location maybe best if 20-40 years the county and city governments combine as well as everything in one location now. • Centralization is always better, but it should only be city and county. • It makes sense to have these public-supported entities located together for efficiency. • Community collaboration and best interest of taxpayers. • Wise use, combined space—become a “go to” space for city/county—school—business and activity. • It has been recognized (but ignored) that Iowa has too many counties, school district, etc. Within 25 years economics will force this to the top of the table. Des Moines is probably our largest in-state competition. They have moved closer to a metro form of government. We too need to move in that direction. We claim to believe in the corridor concept yet to date parochial trumps partnerships. I firmly believe that Johnson and Linn counties will eventually merge into a metro political and economic entity.

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

FOCUS GROUPS Focus groups are utilized to delve deeper into participants’ top-of-mind thoughts about a subject. For example, magazine publisher’s and editors might hold focus groups about colors, content and even a potential magazine’s name, prior to launching a new publication. Retailers utilize focus groups to identify product displays that draw shoppers. Hospitals utilize focus groups to find out what patients found unique about their services. In this case, our goal was twofold: 1) ensure participants were fully informed about the five potential options for the new AOB and 2) record their final preferences when they had applied the same evaluation criteria that the Board of Supervisors will utilize in making its final decision. Participants were randomly selected from voter registration, business and employee lists, respectively.

Note—those criteria are: 1) Customer Service—location (access from all areas of the county), easy access to services once there 2) Environmental—Silver LEED Certification, sustainability, reduced carbon footprint 3) Cost—purchase price, construction/renovation, lifecycle 4) Technical—meeting building code requirements.

Linn County Residents While all focus groups came well-informed about the five options for the AOB, the group representing Linn County residents (11 people) was both well-informed and well-prepared to discuss their thoughts. They came with strong opinions and yet were very open to listening to each other’s opinions. Some were swayed by others thoughts and openly admitted so. Discussion was spirited as each participant shared his/her thought processes about the various options. In the end, each identified his/her key criteria and made the choice based on that selection. Customer service (location, in this case) was most important to the majority of this group after lengthy discussion. Cost remained most important to one person in the group. All agreed that the “Environmental Criteria” should be a part of any option chosen. They also agreed that Technical was well, technical, and you couldn’t argue with building codes being vital to a safe, secure building. Of those selecting customer service/location, Option #3—former Steve & Barry’s—was the choice of five participants. In so choosing, they identified: easy access from anywhere in the county (grudgingly admitting to one naysayer that the one exception might be Marion). They think there is potential growth in this area of the county and thus, property in that region will maintain its value. While one person said she felt very safe at this location, another vehemently disagreed—especially after the county offices close. One person thought Option #4—former EconoFoods—the easiest to access, and another believes that the county should continue to “anchor” and help rebuild downtown by selecting Option #2, with or without I-JOBS funding.

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

As they proceeded in their discussions, individuals in this group began admitting strong interest in Option #5— Co-Location w/the CR School District and/or the City of Cedar Rapids. Each hesitated to bring it up and quickly concluded it might be a challenge to get participating organizations to agree. (This discussion started with an impromptu discussion about the potential merger of city/county governments in Linn County.) Out of the discussion about Option #5, however, came an “Option #6.” In short, this group explored the idea of Linn County constructing a new building based on the square footage identified in Option #2 and the industry standards used to estimate the cost of this square footage in a co-location situation. Two people adhered to this idea when considering both customer service and cost important.

Linn County Business Representatives While the 8 representatives of Linn County businesses were not as thoroughly informed about the five options as the residents, the individuals in the group had many questions they wanted to ask before beginning criteria evaluation and selection of their preferences among the five options. Their initial questions ranged from, “How did Option #4—EconoFoods—get into the mix, to “is energy efficiency and option for all?” to “what is the I-JOBS funding?” Again, customer service was a top priority among this group. And again, customer service was essentially limited to where the AOB is located in the county. Of those who believed that customer service (location) was the most important—6 believed that would be accomplished with Option #2. One person thought Option #4 was the best and one person chose Option #5. One person insisted that fiscal responsibility should be a part of each option and adhered to that throughout the discussion. Interestingly enough, this person thought that Option #5—Co-Location—or an “Option #6— identifying a completely different location for a new AOB, using the figures from Option #5” and constructing a new AOB, would actually be the most fiscally responsible decision. He/she sighted potential county growth, “knowing what we were getting” instead of tearing into old, existing buildings and thinking about the length of time this building will be in service as reasons for preferring this option. Similar to two other groups, many in this group agreed with this person.

Linn County Employees AOB Employees This group of 9 came prepared to discuss until dawn if necessary. They’re engaged, interested and very enthusiastic about helping their employer (to which they are very loyal) meet the needs of their customers—including themselves in this category. Initially, rumors were the first topic of interest which have already been shared with Joi Bergman, Communications Director. The rumors ranged from continued mold in the existing AOB, to moving employee parking further from the existing AOB to parking being moved to the juvenile court space near the existing AOB.

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Sondy Daggett 909 Rosedale Road Southeast Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 [email protected] 319.310.4359

As these issues were put to rest…maybe…the conversation turned to the evaluation criteria used for the five options. Many said they had never seen it, and many were concerned that the information had not been shared with the engineers doing the feasibility studies on the various sites. Again, once issues were put to rest, thoughtful, in-depth discussion ensued. Everyone in this group was convinced that customer service was the most important of the evaluation criteria. They encourage the supervisors to listen to employee needs, but especially pointed out that what Linn County residents like about the temporary location are customer service oriented and should be considered with any option that is chosen—close-in parking, wide hallways, and what is perceived as faster service in these more open areas. As they were walked through the criteria and encouraged to overlay them against the five options, four thought Option #4 provided the best customer service potential for both them and their customers; two thought these could be accomplished with Option #2, two favored co-location and one said, “I don’t think we’ve evaluated all options yet.” The employee who said this was again, thoughtful and insightful. Her/his concerns were long-term in nature, wondering who was evaluating all Linn County space needs for 25-30 years into the future, as the new or rejuvenated AOB is planned.

Employees Who Will Not be Housed in the AOB This group of 10 employees was interested, happy someone wanted their opinion, and fairly well-informed about the five options. Eventually, the group focused on the evaluation criteria and was very interested in defining each category. Again, customer service (including them as customers) was the most important criteria on the list. Each agreed that if done correctly, environmental and fiscal responsibility should be a part of all options. Of this group of customer-focused employees, 3 agreed that Option #4—EconoFoods—would be the most customer centric of the five; two thought Option #2 would be the best in this area, and two strongly believed that Option #5—Co-Location would provide the best customer service for the most people. Three in this group really couldn’t decide but leaned toward either Option #2 or Option #4.

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