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Show Utah Foundation Inventory needed to assess state office space needs Studies being conducted by the Utah State Building Board of space now occupied, oc-cupied, and additonal space urgently needed, by state departments and agencies are expected to take a significant place on the agenda of the 197,8 Legislature and, hopefully, to fill some shocking informational in-formational gaps concerning considerable opposition, but has not been officially abandoned. Meanwhile, more and more space has been leased and at the present time 70 percent of the office space occupied by state government agencies in the Salt Lake City area is leased and only 30 percent is state-owned oroDertv appointed by the Governor to study the building-needs question. A major recommendation recom-mendation of the consultants' con-sultants' report was for the stat'j to purchase the Ajax Press property to meet emergency needs. This recommendation was not i i , space requirements for state government, according to Utah Foundation, the private, non-profit research institution. Recent examination of space requirements for operating agencies of state government including a report by the legislative auditor general, have disclosed serious deficiencies in basic information in-formation necessary for enlightened decisionmaking, decision-making, the Foundation notes in a research report released this week. Some of the informational gaps are lack of a full inventory of state-owned space and of definite information on the number of people working at While many existing deficiencies are readily seen and are of serious concern, placing Responsibility for the problems is less easy. Much of the trouble appears to have arisen from dispersal of control functions. func-tions. State Building Board activities have been chiefly concerned with educational and social institutions and less with the state's own operating departments. Supervision of the Capitol area was placed by law in the hands of the Board of Examiners and the Lieutenant Governor Secretary of State. Leases could be approved only by the Board of Examiners, ' with the Building Board providing background information in-formation as requested. cicicu upuii, pernaps less on its intrinsic merits than because legislators felt they had not had sufficient time to study the proposal and its relation to the over-all state space-needs question. The Legislature directed the Building Board to make an in-depth study of space needs and alternative ways of meeting them through additional construction, remodeling of existing buildings, and continued leasing. An appropriation was provided and Ihe Board directed to report to the regular 1978 legislative session. Most observers appear to agree that further criticism should be held in abeyance until the Building Board rennrt i nrpcontoH in tv specific locations. There appears to be little coordination coor-dination between programs for state-owned and leased space, and inadequate control over the leasing of space by state agencies. While the Building Board maintains utilization studies of the educational institutions, in-stitutions, no comparable studies have been made of the state's own operating departments. Discussions of the rei for additional space to house ine growing state governrnnt operation have been going on for several years, much of it dealing with pr iposals to add to the State Off ce Building on Capitol H ,'l This proposal has met Aith The regular session of the Legislature in 1977 sought to end some of the confusion by passing S B. 199 which gives the Building Board "supervision and control over allocations of space to various departments, commissions, institutions, and agencies in the Capitol, the State Office Building, and all other buildings or space owned, leased or rented by or to the state" with the exception of space occupied by the Legislature and by the universities and colleges. At the special legislative session in June much of the time was taken debating a report prepared by California consultants employed by a committee Legislature. "It will undoubtedly be subjected to the most rigorous scrutiny by the Legislature, the press, and the general public," the Foundation points out. "If the plan presented by the Building Board is found to be sound, it hopefully will be implemented promptly and adhered to in the future, making proper provision for flexibility to meet changing conditions. If the plan is deemed unsatislactory, the Legislature must make whatever changes may be necessary to obtain and execute a plan that does meet the needs of the state. Housing Utah's governmental govern-mental operations is too big and important a business to be handled on other than sound business principles." |