What’s New on the Horizon for 2015?

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 A rendering of the Cedar and Kettner parking structure

The literal horizon, that is! Old County buildings will come down and new ones will go up in an ongoing effort to modernize our facilities and keep up with public needs. The projects taking shape in 2015 will affect hundreds of employees – maybe even you. Here are some highlights.

Openings

Cedar and Kettner Parking Structure

  • Scheduled Opening: October 2015
  • Project:  Build a parking structure with 654 spaces for County Administration Center employees. The garage is 10 stories high, three below street level and seven above, next to the Trolley’s Little Italy/County Center Station.

Lakeside Sheriff’s Substation

  • Scheduled Opening: Spring 2015  
  • Project: Move the substation location from a small leased storefront in Lakeside to a larger, newly remodeled building measuring more than 5,300 square feet.

A rendering of the Boulevard Fire StationBoulevard Fire Station

  • Scheduled Opening:  April 2015
  • Project:  Replace the existing facility with a new 7,866 square-foot fire station with living quarters and bays for six emergency vehicles.

North Inland Family Resource Center (Escondido) 

  • Scheduled Completion: May 2015 for June Occupancy
  • Project: Relocate operations from the current Valley Parkway offices into a larger 105,000-square-foot leased facility at 649 W. Mission Ave. The newly remodeled location will include a first for a County Family Resource Center – a Child Support satellite office. More than 400 employees will be making the move.

Las Colinas Detention and Reentry FacilityLas Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility

  • Scheduled Completion: December 2015 for January 2016 occupancy
  • Project: Finish Phase 2 of the multi-year 1,216-bed project to replace the existing facility on the 45-acre campus. 

New Beginnings

Imperial Beach Library

  • Scheduled Completion: Spring 2016
  • Project: Begin construction in summer 2015 for a new 12,000-square-foot library building to replace the existing 5,100-square-foot library built in 1966. The project will also incorporate and remodel an existing 2,000-square-foot community room belonging to the City of Imperial Beach.   

Alpine Library

  • Scheduled Completion: Spring 2016
  • Project: Begin construction in spring 2015 for a new 12,700-square-foot Zero Net Energy Library that will be more than four times larger than the current leased facility.

Crime Lab, Fleet Facility & Parking Structure

  • Schedule Completion:  May 2016 - Fleet Services & Parking Structure, Summer 2018 – Crime Lab
  • Project: Begin construction in spring 2015 on a new 1,200-space parking structure east of the Registrar of Voters building at the County Operations Center. The parking structure will be similar in height but about half the size of the parking garage near the conference center and café. The new garage will also house the relocated Fleet Services. The old Fleet Services building will be demolished to make way for a 158,000-square-foot building that will include a crime lab, space for Sheriff’s property and evidence materials, and administrative offices.  

Planning Stages

Pine Valley Fire Station: Build a new facility with sleeping quarters and four bays for emergency vehicles to replace the existing aged and undersized facility.  

Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk El Cajon Branch office: Locate a site in early 2015 to build a new, larger 19-20,000 square-foot building.  

Borrego Springs Library: Find a site for a new 14-15,000-square-foot building that will be six times the size of the current leased facility.

For more information on planned and proposed construction projects, see General Services’ Current Capital Projects list.

In Touch: 2015 ... Bring it On!

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2015 … Bring it on!

Last year was challenging: but thanks to all of your efforts it was also an excellent year. 

We faced countless risks and uncertainties yet managed well through each of them: implementation of the affordable care act, stabilizing the AB109 public safety realignment impact, protecting our region from the May fires and opening our Waterfront Park to name just a few. It was your energy, resilience and commitment that made it happen.

But — there is no more time to look back in the glow of what we accomplished last year. As I sat there watching some stunning football on New Year’s Day, I was focusing on what we have ahead.

The economy has picked up a bit and so have the expectations of our customers and our partners. Requests for enhanced services are heard everywhere and we need to step up to the call. 

We have the implementation of Laura’s Law coming before the Board at the end of January. The opportunities for flexibility and innovation in child welfare afforded by the Title IV-E Waiver must get rolling to have a significant impact on our foster care system. We have a jump start on the impacts of the passage of Prop 47, but there’s much to be done in reshaping sentencing and detention services. Sustainability opportunities keep knocking. Environmental necessities must be embraced. And several key capital projects are picking up steam. Every department has a long list of exciting opportunities ahead.

Nothing will stop us from doing great things this year. But there is an elephant in the room — or rather, in the budget — that we cannot ignore. You know; the one that the Union Tribune keeps writing about. Yes, we do have retirement debt. Lots of it. But I refuse to let that deter us from focusing on the great things we have ahead. I think about retirement debt every day and I am actively engaged in disciplined fiscal management to ensure we meet our obligations to fully fund the system without impacting services.

Public pension doesn’t define us or paralyze us. The services we provide our residents are what we’re about. It’s important that we read the sobering articles and listen to the public outcry about pensions. They are reminders to us all that we must remain prudent in our responsibilities as public servants and stewards of taxpayers’ money. But it’s equally important that we do not get mired in the negative and instead surge to new heights in providing our residents excellent government services.

To do this I pledge to do the following, and ask that you do so as well: 

  • Be better in my work — think more creatively, efficiently and get the details right.
  • Be better with our customers — in how I prepare, how I communicate and how I add value to their quality of life.
  • Be better with you, my teammates — in how I support you, how I communicate with you and how I care about you as people.
  • Be better in my community — in how I give of my time and effort to make San Diego the best region in the State.
  • Be better in my commitment to service — it’s not about me, it’s about the people we serve and maintaining a healthy organizational culture that has an inspiring and shared mission at its core. 

I am the only one who can control my attitude and how I approach work. The same is said for you. We’re terrific. And I’m so grateful to each of you. But can we be better? Of course we can!

Join me in committing to being better every day. Give more to our customers. Learn more. Smile more. Laugh more. Embrace newer technology. Be more positive. Be more energized. Be more respectful. Be more aware. Be more connected. Be more everything!

Thank you for your loyalty to our residents and the great work you do. We have a great year ahead!

2015… we’re ready. Bring it on!

 

 

Top 10 InSite Stories of 2014

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Can you believe 2015 is already here? It’s a fun, exciting time as we look into the future. But first, let’s take a look back at 2014 and all the County happenings.

Here are the top 10 most-read InSite feature stories of the past year.

1. Be a Part of History – Volunteer at the Waterfront Park’s Grand Opening

 

2. Make a Difference During a Disaster

 

3. Farmers Market Sprouting Up at COC

 

4. Help Us Help Them – Count the Homeless

 

5. Which Workspace is the Most Wicked?

 

6. Amazing Racers: 2014 Edition

 

7. Where You Can Find the Most County Employees

 

8. Get Discounted Tickets for SDSU Football

 

9. Wicked Winners Named in Halloween Contests

 

10. Employees Survive Baja Hurricane – and Return Engaged

Want more? Check out the InTouch articles from this year by CAO Helen Robbins-Meyer.

Thanks for reading! See ya next year!

County Family Contributes to Floral Fantasy Representing a Final Gift

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Amanda Patmon, second from right, and Theresa Liget, on the far right, work on cutting flowers for the float.When you wake up to watch the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day, be on the lookout for a float with a special County touch.

Theresa Liget, who works in the Medical Examiner’s Office, and her daughter Amanda Patmon, who works at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Academy, were up bright and early Saturday, Dec. 6 to board a bus headed to the Rosemont Pavilion warehouse to work on Donate Life’s float in the parade.  This will be the fifth float they have worked on together for Donate Life.

Donate Life is the parent company of Lifesharing, the region’s tissue and organ donation organization. The Medical Examiner’s Office works closely with Lifesharing, as well as the San Diego Eye Bank, to provide hundreds of tissue and organ donations per year.  

This year’s float is called “The Never-Ending Story” and features 60 butterflies emerging from books. The butterflies represent all the lives that can be transformed from a single donor. The float also features special images of donors called floragraphs. They’re given that name because all floats in the parade are covered in flowers and other plant materials.


“Our tiny contribution to the float has so much meaning to us. The real story is the people we have met each year and their stories,” says Liget. “We have met donor families who are in Pasadena preparing floragraph portraits of their deceased loved one to be displayed on the float.  We have met recipients who are there because of the sacrifice of a donor.”   

Patmon says she was especially touched when she met the family of San Diego Police Officer Jeremy Henwood, who was honored with a floragraph on a float last year. His organs transformed at least two lives.

Float volunteer workers get to know each other on the bus ride up to Pasadena, then more so while working and on the ride back home. In all, they work about eight hours.

“It’s so much fun. It’s a really, really cool experience,” says Patmon.

So, what does it take to decorate an elaborate Rose Parade float? Most floats are built by professional float-building companies and are kept in an enormous warehouse. By the time volunteers arrive, the float is constructed and is spray colored to match the flowers that will be attached to each area. Patmon says the volunteers  are given an empty box to fill with specific-colored flowers that must be  cut precisely.

“We sat for hours cutting only the blue part from the Blue Strata flower, “says Liget.  “Only the flower, to capture all the blue – to cut down too far and add green to the pile would diminish the color that will be added to the float.”

Patmon adds, “Your hands hurt from cutting with the scissors and your back hurts a little from sitting in the chair, but it doesn’t even matter because you’re able to walk around and see everything that’s going on. I always find out where on the float my flowers are going. Everyone that day was working on the butterfly on the front of the float, it’s a huge butterfly.”


Paid workers and more busloads of volunteers will continue to work on the float until it is done. Fresh and dried flowers are applied to the float two to three days before the parade.

Liget says she hopes people who watch the parade on January 1 will not only admire the beauty of the Donate Life float but will also and listen to the stories of the individuals who have given so much in death to enhance the lives of the living.

“Every donation of organs, eyes and tissue begins when a family member honors their loved ones’ wishes indicated by a pink dot on their driver’s license, or by making that decision for them,” says Liget.

Season’s Eatings: Share Your Leftover Recipes

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For many, the best part of the holiday season is the abundance delicious and decadent foods enjoyed with family and friends. But even after Santa visits all the good boys and girls in San Diego County, our fridges will be full—so start planning for leftovers now.

Send in your ideas and recipes on what to do with all those remaining cookies, rugelach and roast beast. There will be extra points for healthy recipes.

FSA: Use it or Lose it by Year End – Except…

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Time is running out to spend your flexible spending account dollars. County employees have until Dec. 31 to use their FSA on approved medical expenses, for things such as office visit and prescription copays, acupuncture chiropractic visits and much more.

Now is the time to buy that new pair of eyeglasses or finish up dental work. For a complete list of eligible purchases, refer to the information compiled by ASI Flex.

But here’s where “except” comes in: IRS guidelines allow employees to carry over up to $500 into 2015. So depending how much you have in your account, you may not need to scramble to meet that year-end deadline. This only applies to employees not enrolled in a high deductible health care plan next year.

Not sure how much you have left in your flex spending account? Employees can check their account balance through ASI Flex’s website. Or smartphone users can check in an app. To download the ASI Flex app, go to Google Play or the iPhone App Store and then search for ASI Flex.

Get Charged Up at the Waterfront Park

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Get plugged into what’s new at the Waterfront Park – electric vehicle charging stations are now open for business.  Supervisors Ron Roberts and Dave Roberts celebrated the grand opening of the charging stations during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the underground parking garage Monday.   

Members of the public and County employees can use the stations to charge their electric vehicles. Several stations are located along the southeast wall of the garage and an ADA station is located near the garage elevator. In a nod to the holidays, charging will be free through Dec. 26.

ChargePoint installed the stations and will operate them for five years. Drivers who use them will be charged per kilowatt hour rather than a flat hourly rate and they can pay with a major credit card or set up a free ChargePoint account. Once the vehicle is charged, ChargePoint will send a text massage to the driver.

Two types of charging stations are available. Level 2 chargers can be used on all electric vehicles. DC Fast is limited to electric vehicles equipped with the appropriate plug. 

Charging stations will also be installed at ten other County parking facilities by December 2015. Which one is next? Watch for them at the County Operations Center sometime in February or March.  

'Twas the Annual Toys for Tots Distribution

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Staff at HHSA's Fallbrook Community Resource Center take a breather from unloading all the donated Toys for Tots they were distributing.

A new twist on a familiar holiday story tells the tale of this year’s HHSA Toys for Tots drive.

‘Twas the weeks before the holidays, when all through the County
Little “elves” were stirring, preparing a toy bounty;
The wish lists were made with great care,
In hopes generous people would open hearts and share;
The children were nestled in points near and far;
Waiting for the morning to head out in their car;
Mothers and fathers excited as can be,
Ready for their children’s beaming smiles to see,
They didn’t get a chance to see all the hustle and bustle,
County employees unloading toys and bikes with such muscle.
Off the families dashed making their way to an FRC,
That’s where the music was, the treats, the fun and the toy presents to be.
It’s hard to tell who was smiling more,
The kids getting presents, the parents or the employee helpers galore,
Piles of toys, rows of bikes and other goodies around,
Now holiday mornings would be filled with joyous sound.
Grateful families were everywhere, employees could be proud,
Their efforts with Toys for Tots received thanks aloud.
Hundreds of employees volunteered their time,
Helping more than 5,000 San Diego County children was truly sublime.
The roll call of toy pickup spots was impressive and wide,
From the East, North, South, West gifts were supplied:
There were more toys at Centre City, El Cajon and North Central,
North Inland, Ramona, Fallbrook, North East San Diego, Chula Vista as well.
It’s a project that brings both staff and recipients cheer.
Happy Holidays to all and a wonderful New Year!

 They were all smiles at the Northeast Family Resource Center during the Toys for Tots distribution.

The El Cajon Family Resource Center was over-flowing with toys and bikes ready for distribution to children in need this holiday season.

 Staff at the North Central Family Resource Center and their little "elf" helpers gathered for a photo after prepping for their Toys for Tots distribution day.