The County is building a new home for the Health Agency on Johnson Avenue in San Luis Obispo, and in the meantime, the department’s admin staffers will move into new temporary digs.
County Supervisors approved a contract to lease a 2,400 square foot office space for 10 administrators in the McMillan Business Park, 2925 McMillan St., in SLO.
The new admin office will be located nearby other agencies that they work closely with, including “Martha’s Place, Managed Care, Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health and Emergency Medical Services division and County Public Health staff currently located in the McMillan Business Park. “
The move is necessitated by the County’s construction of a new “Sobering Center” remodeled out of the Health Department’s Administration Offices.
“The displaced public health staff,” said County Real Property Manager Sarah Diggs of the Central Services Division in a staff report, “will need to be relocated to alternate office locations for continuity of operations and services.”
The terms of the lease, which is for 3 years, plus two, 1-year extensions if needed, at an initial cost of $176,000 (for the 3-year term), plus $55,000 in tenant improvements paid for by the County. “This amount equates to approximately $1.54 per square foot,” Diggs said, “during the first year with a CPI [inflation] increase each year ranging from two percent to five percent.”
According to Diggs’ report, the first year’s rent (from Dec. 15, 2023 to June 30, 2024) will be $3,750 a month and jump up to $3,945 a month from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025; and $4,140 a month that third year (July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026). So it appears form this chart that the Health Agency Admin Dept., will move to the new digs by mid-December.
The County will tap outside sources to pay for the rent. “The first year tenant improvements,” Diggs’ report said, “will be funded from the Future of Public Health Grant, and the lease rent per square foot will be funded from inter-department rent revenues collected in Behavioral Health for space rented at the Sobering Center Facility.”
