Date: 04/22/2023

Subject: Space Planning Kensington’s Future

From: The Memo Desk

That confounded 17- person meeting room continues to bug Director Jim Watt.

In the 04/19/ 2023 Kensington Fire Protection District meeting Director Jim Watt announced he is retracting his scheme to revise the location of the restroom on the first floor of the Public Safety Building remodel. Cost estimates from the architect and structural engineer to prepare a revised drawing package came in at $63,000 and would require adding time to the construction schedule. (gulp…)

But that’s not all, the revision would require a cost estimate for a change order from the contractor to perform the work. No wonder he retracted his scheme. Quelle catastrophe!

Undaunted, Jim is working on yet another scheme based on the current approved first floor plan under construction which would work without all the expensive revisions. At some later date Jim intends to make his new scheme public. Jim also said, Kensington architect Bart Jones is working up a scheme to house the police in the PSB remodel. No date was given when Bart’s plan would be revealed.

The Kensington Police Protection & Community Services District doesn’t seem to know what they would do if they were to lease space in the remodeled PSB. Perhaps they might locate administration staff there, or maybe house patrol officers, or maybe something else. They only know they want first right of refusal and their agreement would be in perpetuity.

A lot of time and effort is being expended to find a way to include the police department in the PSB. It is clear that those board members who got elected on the Save Kensington’s Future slate have to produce results to satisfy folks who voted for them. But at some point, these Directors need to realize they now represent the safety needs of all Kensington and not just the folks who voted for them.

So why then are some KFPD Board members attempting to design a space for the Kensington Police department in the PSB? Doesn’t the Board have other more pressing KFPD fire safety issues to address instead of remodeling the remodel?

“Everything worthwhile is a good idea, but did you ever notice there is more bad ideas that will work than there is good ones?” (Will Rogers)

Note: Satire alert, saving Kensington’s future seems to need an awful lot of remodeling.