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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-12-21 Finance Committee Minutes FINANCE COMMITTEE December 21, 2009 Minutes Councilors: Bronson, Weston, Nealley Staff: Cyr, Cammack, Dawes, Wardwell, Hupp, Little 1. Consent Agenda A motion was made and seconded to approve the Consent Agenda items a. to f. a. Quitclaim Deed – 113 Birch Hill Estates b. Quitclaim Deed – Lot 20 Holiday Park c. Quitclaim Deed – 34 Mt. Desert Drive d. Workout Agreement – Lot 195 Cedar Falls e. Workout Agreement – 64 Ohio Street f. Workout Agreement – 79 Pier Street g. Update on Purchase of Used Vehicle – Animal Control At the Committee’s last meeting, the Fleet Maintenance Supervisor spoke about this item indicating that during last year’s budget process staff recognized the City would have a few pickup trucks that would not pass State of Maine inspection. One of those vehicles was the animal control vehicle with a broken frame that cannot be repaired safely. Dawes was going to look for either a new or used pickup. The city would return the chassis as only the vehicle body was needed. The plan was to reuse the box chassis that came off the other animal control vehicle. Dawes has looked through local dealer lots and found a 2008 Chevrolet 1500, a 2 wheel pickup with 23,000 miles, at Quirk’s. It was purchased at $14,234. Responding to Bronson, Cyr said that several years ago it was established that when the Committee authorizes Dawes to look for used vehicles that he report back to the Finance Committee regarding the purchase of used equipment. 2. Bids a. Lamps & Ballasts – City Wide – Gexpro - $26,179 Historically, the City has bid these items for three year contracts. Cyr noted that five bids were received and staff’s recommendation is to award the bid to the low bidder, Gexpro of Bangor, in the amount of $26,179.35. Cyr noted that this is the estimated annual cost, and the City is committed to purchase from Gexpro on an as-need basis. Responding to Weston, Cyr said that the City has dealt with Wesco and Gexpro in this area. Wardwell said the previous contract was held by Wesco. Responding to Nealley, Cyr said that Gexpro is the lowest bidder. Based on the quantities specified their total bid was $26,179.35 and Wesco’s was $26,447.30. In addition, Gexpro has listed 60% off the list price as prices for the years, one two and three. Jim Banes of Standard Electric Company said that his company was looking at specified billable material and quoted every item. The difference in cost was less than 1%. Standard Electric-Wesco has successfully maintained this account for the last six years. Banes said that his company has always provided the City with a lamp and ballast warranty of five years, which is unique to the industry. He wanted to make certain that the items quoted were those as were exactly and specifically stated on the list. Cyr said that the information has been publicly available on the City’s web site since the bid opening. Cyr clarified that the request for bid specified that responders provide the proposed manufacture and proposed manufacturing number recognizing that folks may not always be able to comply. She did note that there are some slight differences here and there within the bids received. As an example, Gexpro is bidding mostly GE products in lieu of Phillips products. Banes said he was satisfied with Cyr’s response. Jamie Gibrarer, manager for Gexpro, said that her company is providing GE products across the board with the exception of a few areas where GE does not provide. GE does provide similar warranties to Phillips. She worked with GE reps and the products crossed are equal to the Phillips’ products. Responding to Bronson, she noted that Gexpro is willing to match the five year warranty. Responding to Bronson, Cyr said the warranty could be written into the arrangement with Gexpro. Both Cyr and Wardwell spoke of the City’s good experience with Gexpro and Wesco. Weston spoke about on-going relationships that the City has with various vendors, and the fact that the City’s practice of always going with the lowest bid. He suggested that from time to time the City should consider the history of dealing with individual companies when the dollar variances are small. He suggested a conversation at a later date to discuss the bid policy as not all things being equal at all times for the price but that other factors do enter into consideration. Cyr agreed. Nealley noted that he did not have a problem with the slight differential in pricing between the two companies. Weston made a motion that as the City moves forward that it is important the City value more than just the bottom line and further moved that the Gexpro award be approved. Nealley seconded the motion. b. Mini Van Lease for the WIC Program. Cyr apologized that this item inadvertently was not included on the original agenda. WIC, a supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children, is operated under Health and Community Services. It is a 100% federally funded program and covers both Penobscot and Piscataquis counties. In order to perform clinical services in the outlying areas, a number of staff with equipment travel by minivan weekly to regularly scheduled clinics. The City has been leasing a minivan since the inception of the WIC program. The lease expires this week. The City went out for bid for a lease for a new minivan and received six responses. Staff recommendation is to award to the low bidder of Darlings Commercial of Bangor. A $10,000 down payment will be used with leftover funds from the grant which expired in September 2009. The monthly payment will be $136.91 for 36 months. Because the WIC Program is federally funded, the City is not allowed to own any moving vehicle and, therefore, leasing is the only option. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff’s recommendation. c. Request to Waive Bid Process – Power Cot – Fire Department – Stryker -$14,253 Cammack noted that in the past three years the Fire Department has been utilizing power cots following Council approval to purchase three cots. The Department is in the process of beginning to update the cots. After doing in-house experiments with the EMS Committee looking at several brands of power cots, staff recommended that the Stryker be purchased to replace one cot with a five year extended warranty. The cot cost is $12,427.86 with $1,825 for the warranty. Cyr said that this was included as part of the capital budget approved by Council in FY10. Responding to Weston, Cyr explained the waiver of bid process. Responding to Wheeler, Cammack said there would be a one-year warranty without the extended warranty. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff recommendation. d. Engineering Services – Passenger Facility Charge Program – Airport – Hoyle, Tanner & Associates Cyr noted that BIA has one engineering firm for its AIP projects under contract currently. Also the Airport needs to put out for bid the engineering and architectural services for passenger facility charge projects. These charges are the $3 fee added to airfare. Airports are required to make application in order to accept PFC fees and part of that application is to include all the projects planned to be undertaken with the monies. BIA is just completing its first PFC application. The most completed include the apron work. In order to apply to the FAA, an engineering firm needs to be in place to assist BIA through the process of submitting necessary documentation. BIA issued RFQ’s with three respondents: Hoyle Tanner Associates, Jacobs Edward & Kelcey, and Ames A/E. A selection committee interviewed all three firms and the unanimous recommendation of the selection committee was to award the contract to Hoyle Tanner and Associates for the PFC engineering and application process. Hupp said the amount listed is not to exceed $466,000 and $66,800 respectively for the two components of the project. The first is the actual paperwork and application to the FAA and the second is the preliminary design for the project for phasing and scope of the costs of future construction. Responding to Nealley, Hupp said the only local proposer was Ames A/E. The PFC application process is a very complex and cumbersome, and Ames A/E’s proposal called for them to partner with a company from North Carolina. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff recommendation. Cyr noted that there will be a Council Order on the upcoming Monday Council agenda for final action by the full Council. Bronson noted that he supported Nealley’s approach for using local professionals when possible. 3. Request to Take Possession of 120 Third Street Cyr requested that this item be removed. The property owner had until Friday to redeem his interest in the project, and payment was made in full on Friday. The City is no longer in a position to take possession of 120 Third Street. Responding to Weston, Cyr noted that the code violation has not yet been resolved. Wellington noted that the City has not made progress with the property owner for a period of years now. The City has been in front of the judge five times, three separate land use cases, and the property owner has been held in contempt of court two times. Fines have not been paid and the cleanup has not been completed. 4. Resolution to Approve a Revised Schedule I Cyr noted that at the last meeting of the Finance Committee details were approved for the Phase II American Reinvestment and Recovery Act Financing. The City received in total $3M of funding through the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund and of that amount 50.6% was principal only with 0% interest. The remaining 49.4% was interest free and principal forgiven. When the Bond Bank put together Schedule I, which shows the annual payment, the Maine Municipal Bond Bank, the DEP Administrative fee and the DEP Management Fees were in the wrong columns. It does not change the payments in total but merely flips which column the fee shows up in. Cyr asked the Finance Committee to approve the revised Schedule I. Bronson noted that it is a clerical correction. A motion was made and seconded to recommend staff approval. The meeting adjourned at 5:35 pm.