New Operations Center for TMWA Comments and Corrections: TMWA's original building lease on our office at 1155 Corporate Boulevard expired on June 11, 2006. As a result, TMWA researched the best possible location to meet TMWA's future office and operations needs. The final result was a location only 1/4 mile down the street on Capital Blvd.
When TMWA was formed in 2001, there were only three weeks to find a location for our operations facility. The 1155 Corporate Boulevard location was the best possible facility available at the time. However, the building was never the perfect location for operations because of limited storage, lack of crew cleanup areas, insecure fleet parking, inefficient building layout, cramped office layouts, etc.
A process was set in place in fall 2003 to inventory all present and future needs for our operations and set the criteria for meeting those needs. The review committee, consisting of both Board and staff members, went through a rigorous selection process evaluating all available buildings and locations that were central to TMWA's service area for customers and crews. Dozens of options were reviewed. The criteria included: size of lot, size of building, unit costs, total costs, location, customer access, crew access, utility availability, site expandability, site development costs, and geotechnical concerns. All new location options were compared to the possibility of staying in the present location with the costs of future expansions.
ALL costs were considered, including land, building, staff time, moving costs, etc. The most important criteria were budget and financial feasibility: the new location had to fit within the present budget and cash flow. We challenged ourselves to look and plan for the long term, so that we did not find ourselves looking for a new location again in the foreseeable future.
The committee recommended the purchase of a seven-acre lot on the corner of Corporate Boulevard and Capital Blvd, just down the street from TMWA's current facility. This was the most cost effective solution. It meets or exceeds all criteria, is the best all-around business decision, and meets TMWA's future needs. The construction of the new facility will be cost neutral to customers of TMWA in the first year and actually save money in future years. The alternative of leasing expanded facilities at TMWA's current location in future years would be more costly than building the new facility. And, most important, TMWA will own this asset, which will be paid off in the future. The alternative, lease payments, would never go away and likely continue to escalate in the future.
This process (from committee recommendations to property purchase to approving the contractor) was open and approved at several board meetings. Board minutes are available at www.tmh2o.com.
