Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-06-22 Finance Committee Minutes FINANCE COMMITTEE June 22, 2009 Minutes Councilors: Stone, Hawes, Blanchette, Palmer, Wheeler, D’Errico, Bronson, Nealley Staff: Cyr, Barrett, Heitmann, Hupp Others: Tom Donnelly, Rob Bergeron, Todd Neal, John Hanson 1. Bids/Purchasing a. Ground Power Units – Airport – TLD America - $101,456 Cyr noted that this item is for two ground power units at BIA and are used through the servicing process to provide electricity to the aircraft during servicing. The two current units are 1977 models and both with well over 10,000 working hours. One has been taken out of commission because of disrepair and is being used for parts to keep the other unit running. The current ground power unit does not provide enough power to service some of the larger aircraft. Six bid responses were received and the recommendation is to award the bid to TLD America of Windsor, CT., the low bidder, in the amount of $101,456. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff’s recommendation to the full Council. b. Pickering Square Parking Garage Restoration Phases 3, 4, 5 – Hascall & Hall - $690,502 Cyr noted that this item was discussed at the last Finance Committee meeting. There were a number of questions raised specifically relating to staff’s recommendation to award to Hascall & Hall, the lower bidder. At that prior meeting, John Hanson, Executive Director of Maine State Building and Construction Trades, asked the Committee to consider recommending award of the bid to Contracting Specialists, Inc. on the basis of their pre-existing relationship with the City on the first two phases of the garage, the quality of their work, their relationship with the Trades Council, their use of local workers, the benefits provided to workers and the idea that the lowest bid is not always the cheapest bid. At that time, the Committee also discussed the City’s Purchasing Regulations affirming with whom the decision rests, the location of the companies, etc., and staff was requested to obtain additional information. Concerning the City’s policy and charter provisions related purchasing, Cyr noted that the City has a purchasing policy, which is to provide for the fair and equitable treatment of all persons involved in City purchasing, to maximize the purchasing value of public funds and procurement and to provide safe guards for maintaining a system of quality and integrity. She noted that bids are evaluated based on the requirements set forth in the RFP document which can include criteria to determine acceptability and other issues other than just cost related to inspections, testing, quality workmanship, etc. The City Council has the authority to award contract of $100,000 or more. She indicated that the bid criteria included in the Pickering Square restoration bid was cost, qualifications, experience, capabilities, past experience, references, quality of work, demonstrated ability to complete projects on time and within budget. Cyr addressed issues and questions raised at the last Committee meeting. The first was the continuing and existing relationship versus establishing new vendor relationships. CSI, Inc. has done the first two phases of the Pickering Garage project. When first chosen, CSI was fairly new to Maine and the City had no experience with them. They had an unknown workforce but were the low bidder. References were checked and the City chose to award bid to them. Cyr said that staff performs due diligence in checking references for unknown vendors in order to assure the final product. Regarding quality of work, Cyr said there is no doubt that the City has been very pleased with CSI, Inc. Based on other references and reviews of Hascall & Hall’s work, nothing has come to staff’s attention that would cause questioning of their work either. To date, experience on the restoration work shows that on average there were four laborers and a supervisor on the job site daily. CSI also indicated there is a mason on site most days. CSI has pulled from the local workforce for these positions and the supervisor foreman has been a regular CSI employee from the Skowhegan area. Hascall & Hall does anticipate staffing the project with their year-round, fulltime workforce and supplementing with local workers as necessary. Relating to worker’s benefits, CSI provides health care benefits at no cost to the employee. The inference was that Hascall & Hall employees are required to pay for their health insurance. Hascall & Hall’s President Rob Bergeron said they do provide health care coverage to their employees and until recently they were able to do so at no cost to their employees. This year, their employees have been asked to pay for a small portion of that benefit. Cyr said that staff knows that the lowest bid is not always the cheapest bid. The ultimate cost of any project is subject to any number of factors most of which are unknown at the time of the bid. In evaluating bid responses, the cost of services is one of the common criteria used for the majority of the City’s contracts. There have been low bid situations that have not turned out as anticipated, but the vast majority of vendor relationships, based on the bid process, have been and continue to be positive and productive. Regarding location of companies, CSI was established in Attleboro, MA in 1996 and maintains offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Washington, DC and Portland, Maine. Hascall & Hall is located in Portland, Maine and has been in business since 1948. In summary, Cyr said it has always been the Council’s preference for staff to provide a recommendation for bid awards. Staff’s recommendation to award Phase 3-5 of Pickering Square’s restoration to Hascall & Hall remains unchanged. She pointed out that CSI’s project manager, John Hanson and Hascall & Hall’s President were present. Stone said he would like to discuss the City’s current purchasing rules and procedures and the criteria in place for staff’s recommendations relative to the budget and why this item is different than other items; i.e. Airport requests. Bronson said he felt no need to review this item any differently than other purchasing requests. Nealley spoke about preferences in terms of quotes that are within a reasonable range of each other. His preference would be the bidder who pays taxes in Bangor or who employs individuals from Bangor or the immediate vicinity because it is a better benefit to Bangor’s economy. Nealley spoke about continuity in using existing contractors. Blanchette said that she did have some concerns at the last Committee meeting regarding the bid award. In trying to pinch pennies, she said that the City is actually hurting itself. The City has a good working relationship with CSI. The City is not opposed to continuing relationships with firms citing its 40 year relationship with ExxonMobil at the BIA. She noted her respect of staff and its recommendation but she also wants the Council to be frugal with awarding contracts and not find that the project has to be redone in the future, as she fully anticipates will happen with the City banking money on this project that is coming before the full Council at its meeting later in the evening. Blanchette said she would like to go with CSI. She doesn’t think that $36,000 is a large gap when dealing with a company that employs and is actually using more employees locally. Blanchette does not consider Portland to be local. She wondered why Hascall & Hall has never submitted a proposal to Bangor prior to this one. Barrett said that after Phase I of the Pickering Square garage was completed it was recommended to extend Phase 2 to CSI without going for bid. After this action and receiving feedback from the Finance Committee at that time, staff felt it important to go out for bid for the remainder of the contract to obtain pricing information. Staff level evaluations start at the pricing information and by looking and evaluating the low bid. He noted that Council can indeed take other factors into consideration as it has in the past and he emphasized that sometimes it may be easier to make those decisions before going through a bid process. If using different criteria, as suggested by Councilor Nealley, it should be clearly set out in the bid. Barrett said that the Committee might want to investigate this further in terms of local and/or other characteristics such as benefits, wages, etc. He felt it important to keep the integrity of the bid process so that vendors feel it is a fair process. Responding to Stone, Cyr noted that this item was reviewed by the Finance Committee prior to going out for bid. In response to Blanchette’s concerns, Cyr said there is a thread of continuity in this process. Becker Structural Engineers is the firm selected to actually write the entire maintenance plan for the Pickering Square garage. The staff worked with Becker to develop specs for each of the phases. Becker also reviewed all bids and made their recommendations throughout the entire project. Although not specifically for the City, Hascall & Hall has done a significant amount of work in Bangor. In response to Barrett, Blanchette said that the City is now blindsiding any proposals with RFP’s. It is well known that the Council has the final action on any contract over $100,000, and all bidders should be aware of it. She feels she is within her jurisdiction as a Councilor to question the issue. Rob Bergeron, President of Hascall & Hall, has been involved with the company since 1992 and a fulltime owner since 2000. The company was organized in 1948. Hascall & Hall has done a lot of projects in Bangor; i.e. The Library, Verizon Building, the Rudman and Winchell and currently working with Bangor Hydro. His company will start EMMC soon and the Bangor House. Hascall & Hall did not bid on the first two phases of the parking garage because of the City’s tight schedule and Hascall & Hall’s full backlog of projects. He was not willing to take a job on that could not be completed within the given timeframe. His company does garage work all over New England and has never had a dissatisfied customer. Nealley asked if Bergeron regularly hires from the local community. Bergeron said that his management staff is brought in from Portland and, when extra help is needed, they advertise in the local newspapers and hire local help. Although benefit packages were not part of the bid requirement, Bergeron said that Hascall & Hall is a non-union contractor but until two months ago H & H paid 100% of health insurance costs for their employees, he also provides uniforms, vacations, holidays and up to 5% match on a 401K. Tom Donnelly, Project Manager for CSI, Inc., was the project manager for the first two phases of the Pickering Square project. Donnelly noted that CSI has been in business since 1996, has grown from $750,000 in year one to $54M last year. CSI is probably the single largest parking garage restoration company on the US east coast. The restoration repair means and method was designed by Todd Neal of Becker Structural Engineers by working with CSI and finding a repair that would fit the very unusual circumstances at Pickering Square. At year one in this process, CSI was not financially successful because in order to do the repair as originally designed would not do justice for the City. CSI is a full union firm with all the benefits and packages. CSI draws from the local area for employees. The pricing for this project reflected CSI’s experience yet the pricing is below the budget originally estimated by the engineers and lower than another non-union competitor. Responding to Nealley, Donnelly said that CSI developed the means and methods that were practical to the application. In response to Nealley, Cyr noted that the original maintenance plan was for 20 years. She noted that there is no way for the City to be able to pay for all needed repairs in one year. Becker looked at the areas and prioritized them. Responding to Nealley, Donnelly said CSI through its Union will automatically go to the local work force. Cyr noted that both Neal and Hanson addressed the Finance Committee at its last meeting. Beyond a recognition letter, Neal of Becker Structural said he didn’t feel there was anything else to add to this process. John Hanson, Maine State Building and Construction Trades Council, acknowledged Cyr’s excellent response to his questions raised at the last meeting. Hanson referred to Becker’s recognition letter and underscored Becker’s words when discussing several intangible benefits. Hanson said it is very tangible when you see the work done and what is proposed for the remaining phases. Bronson made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation. Blanchette seconded the motion. The item will go to full Council for action. Bronson spoke about the Columbia Street Parking Garage project and wondered if money saved from the Pickering Square project could be used for Columbia Street. He noted that there was not a Bangor firm involved and that the City should follow the money. The vote was 3-2 for staff recommendation. 2. Energy Efficiency Block Grant - LED Streetlight Conversion Barrett said that the City will be receiving $161,700 for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program of the US Department of Energy as part of the stimulus package. Given the amount of work done over the last year and a half on energy conservation, staff spent some time to determine how the City might best use this grant to accommodate cost savings use and environmental benefits. Staff looked at converting some streets lights from mercury vapor high pressure sodium to LED technology. Most street lights in the community are on a flat rate basis per month and changing them to LED’s would not save the City money unless as a rate case could be put through the PUC to set a new rate. There are 319 street lights that are on meters with a majority in the downtown and waterfront area. Staff recommends that the grant funds be used, along with preapproved funds of $100,000 from CDBG stimulus monies, and Downtown TIF funding to convert these 319 street lights. Currently the electric bill for those 319 lights is $54,800/year and staff anticipates a savings of $34,000 by making the conversion. The LED lights will be guaranteed for a minimum of five years and probably longer. If approved, this will require a contract change order with Honeywell. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff’s recommendation. Wheeler asked if the LED’s will provide greater illumination. Barrett said they would supply a different quality of light. Instead of orange, it will be white light which is perceived as brighter than orange. Barrett did say that some test lights will be placed to check their effectiveness. Responding to Palmer, Barrett said the payback time varies by the type of light anywhere from 7 years to about 25 years. The City will also be eligible for an Energy Maine Rebate that would reduce all of the numbers by about 10-15%. The motion was unanimously approved. 3. Executive Session – 36 MRSA Section 841 (2) – Hardship Abatement A motion was made and seconded to move into executive session. 4. Open Session – Hardship Abatement Decision A motion was made and seconded to approve staff recommendation. Committee adjourned at 7:28 pm.