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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-04-03 Finance Committee MinutesFinance Committee Meeting Minutes April 3, 2000 Councilors Attending: Pat Blanchette, Dan Tremble, Gerry Palmer, Nichi Farnham Staff Attending: Edward Barrett, Dave Pellegrino, Ron Heller, Arthur Stockus, Connie Pingley, Don Winslow, Debbie Cyr, Joe McNeil, Bob Dawes, David Little, Norm Hellmann Meeting convened at 5:03 p.m. B. Portable Tollat Rental - Bass Park Uncoln Rental Systems ($5,000.00 annually) Staff recommends awarding the three-year contract to Lincoln Rental Systems of Lincoln, the low responsive bidder. Approved. b. Asbestos Removal - Building #600 - Airport Riverside lane Corporation ($19,865.00) Recommendation to award to Riverside lane Corporation of Ellsworth, the low bidder. The remaining funds in this account have been budgeted for painting the Asm building, repairing the road to the 600 Area and general building repair and Improvements on an as needed basis. Approved. C. Portable Radios - Police Department Written's Two -Way Service ($38,518.44) Award to Whitter's Two -Way service of Brewer, the low bidder. The total amount IS $38,518.44. The available balance is $35,000. Whitten's has offered a 3% cash discount of $1,160.34 if we pay at the time of order, bringing the total down to $37,517.66. The shortfall of $2,518 (with discount) will be taken out of the Forfeiture Account. Approved. 2. Audit Services - Runvon Kereteen Ouellette - Purchasing Finance Staff is requesting a contract extension with the existing auditors. The City contracted with Runyon Kersteen Ouellette three years ago. The Finance Director pointed out that changing auditors is a costly proposition and the amount of work involved is immense. Staff has been very pleased with their services. This firm is objective, helpful, and relates to Council as well as staff extremely well. Approved. 3. Purchase of FumlWre - Nursino Facility (85133516) Connie Pingley explained that the facility needed specially designed wardrobes. Staff contacted several healthcare provides to see who had in stock or could make wardrobes that would fit into the rooms at the facility. Two companies responded, Hill -Rom and Invacare. They are both national suppliers and indicated that they either had them in stock or could adjust what they had to meet the need. They were asked to bring in a full bedroom set to look at. Staff evaluated the furniture and recommends Hill -Rom. Hill - Rom includes delivery, setup and removal of all unwanted equipment except mattresses. They also give a tradein allowance for replacement parts of up to 40% credit. Imacare's shipping is drop ship and it is the facilitys responsibility for setup and removal. In comparing the two, the Hill -Rom product is sturdier and best fits what the facility needs. Approved. The Employee Assistance Program has been in existence since 1991. Since that time, the City has contracted with Affiliated Healthcare, now Affiliated Employee Assistance Program. The same Individuals have been providing services to the City for the entire time. The costs have gone down, primarily because when the program was introduced in 1991, there was a build up of employees that needed assistamm for various reasons. The Employee Assistance Program is primarily a screening referral service. An employee can have up to three sessions with the individual, who then diagnose and refer or take care the situation right then. The Cry received two proposals this year. One was received from Affiliated and one from Healthworks. Heathworks Is also located in Bangor. Dave Pellegrino believes that both could do a very good job. The difference between the two is that the Affiliated group has Elizabeth Ashe. Staff was very enthusiastic about Elizabeth's skills. She does a monthly newsletter and does excellent job training. Bob Farrar commented that there was a Committee put together Including Bob, Dave Pellegrino, Jerry Hughes (Training officer at Public Works), and Kim Harvey (WIC Director) Interview the two fines. One reason Affiliated is recommended are the surveys received on a regular basis from employees who have used to current service. Consistently the surveys rank the confidentiality aspect high. They aim indicate that those employees have been helped. Over the time span that the City has had Affiliated, their service has been top quality. There has been excellent communication, they are readily available and staff feels that there is no compelling reason to change companies. They also have a statewide presence They run employee assistance programs throughout the State of Maine and Imo other parts of New England. This is a benefit to employees because of employees that live several miles away. There are employees that live in Machias, Belfast, Dover-FoxcroR, Mlllmocket, etc. which would benefit from offices is other locations in the State. As part of the FAP program that they have offered, they have included 12 hours of Elbabeth's time at no charge. Affiliated services approximately 130 customers In terms of towns, cities, and private sector companies. Councilor Blanchette recommended tabling this item until the next meeting to give staff an opportunity to further show the differences between the two companies. Approved recommendation to table. 5. Cemetery Storage Sheds There Is money budgeted from the Capital Account to do the roofs on storage sheds at various cemeteries. After consideration, staff decided that this is not the best way to go and would be better off buying a trailer to haul rather than storing things in sheds which will need a lot of work and are subject to a lot of vandalism. The trailer would be used to transport and store mowing and trimming equipment used to take care of the various cemeteries. The estimated cost is $6,000. Approved. 6. Order, Transferring $27,222from Various nem and A=UDJS to the Insurance Division (Einairce) The City Manager explained that there are certain insurance policies that are tied to a specific function. Police, professional, vehicle liability insurance, nursing facility insurance and Bass Park have always been budgeted in those departments. There is a whole other set of policies that cover a broader scope, such as crime, which covers the City against any employee who steals. In the past, staff has tried to allocate this out and break It up Into 43 different amounts. It has been very difficult to accurately determine the basis for some of the allocation and has been a problem where the amount budgeted and the amount charged hasnt always coincided. Staff is suggesting that the generalized policies be pm all in one place where R Is easier for staff to budget them. Approved. 2. Resolve. 'n Available Fe I Trimsportation Grant funds for the Purchase of Wheelchair Restraints - The Bus Joe McNeil explained that the Bus would like to upgrade some of the wheelchair restraints. There have been several problems with the de-cimns currently being used. They are harder to use and more time-consuming. The Maine Department of Tmnsportadon Grant will fund $9,200 and the Owe match would be $1,800. There is surplus money in the operating budget to cover this expense. Approved. Staff is seeking the authority to purchase three "program cars" far the Police Department at a local dealership and waive the purchasing policy. Staff will advise the Commktee of the purchase and provide background information at the time of purchase. Approved. 9. Discussion, Local Preference in Purchasina Councilors recently indicated an Interest in reviewing the section of the City's purchasing procedures dealing with local preference. The present policy does not allow for a local preference except in instances of tie bids. Ed Barrett reviewed the bids that were brought to the Finance Committee In 1999. There were some categories of bids that were not included - multiple line item unit price bids (signs B posts, etc.), where a price could not be put an It. Seventy-eight bids were reviewed. Of the 78 bids, 58 were bids within the MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), 48 were bids from Bangor firms. Bangor was included in any MSA figure. The analysis shows a good level of local competition. In terms of local awards, 46% were awarded to local firms. Based on the information gathered, local firms are generally quite competitive and are often successful. During 1999, a 2.5% local preference would have affected no bid awards, and a 5% preference would have had the primary effect of transferring awards from firms lasted in the Immediate area to Mase located in Bangor. The 5% bid in the MSA was a dollar difference of $139. The bid at 7.5% was $1,862 and the 10% bid was $587. The total additional dollar change for an MSA preference would have been $2,588. The situation changes when you include the additional Bangor bids because in the four that would have changed, one of those was a unit price bid that could not be quantified without knowing how much was bought. One bid was $43,433 more (sewer separation pmject). Most of the time when the City receives a local bid and the local bidder doesn4 get the award, it is usually due to a very sizable difference in cost. Trying to determine who is considered local is another issue that the Committee will need to address. Dave Pellegrino outlined the advantages and disadvantages of a local preference policy. Dave commented that this issue does come up periodically. It is a problem for the purchasing agent, primarily because It compromises the integrity of the bidding process and reduces =petition. Dave Is a member of the NIGP (National Institute of Governmental Purchasing), which has tracked this issue for years. What tends to happen is that if there is a local preference, the local bidders mise their prices. If a formal policy is adopted, every request for bid that Is sent out will have to Indicate that the City gives a preference of A% or amount, and potential bidders will not bid believing the local vendor has the advantage. Staffs suggestion Is to decide whether the Committee wants to go back and consider changing the polity and W so, what parameters need to be looked at so staff can come back with a proposal or suggestions. Councilor Palmer suggests tabling the item for further discussion. Councilor Blanchette feels that the policy provides more than enough flexibility. Councilor Tremble commented that at a recent Committee meeting there was no flexibility on buying locally and he feels that more is needed. It may not need to be tied to a dollar amount, but just state that one factor that Will be considered as part of the process is where they are located. Councilor Blanchette commented that she would not want to see that wording In the policy because it will ultimately put Bangor at a disadvantage. It will limit Bangor in the bids received and local vendors will acid to their prices and the City will pay a higher amount Councilor Blanchette feels that the policy is fine and trusts that the elected officials, if not comfortable with the recommendation from staff, will question it. Ed suggested that one thing that can be done Is to re-work the definition of a "tie". A percentage can be used instead. Staff can make the policy a little clearer by defining other things that can be looked at other than price. The City Solicitor pointed out that the policy does not use the word "proximity" but the Committee can consider that in their decision. factors such as delivery charges, servicing availability, etc., can be considered now without violating the policy. It Is simply a matter of framing the issue when the matter comes before the Committee, This applies in a larger area than just the corporate boundaries of Bangor. There are two ways to look at local preference. You can give it to people who have a physical location In Bangor and pay taxes or you can look at people who contribute to the regional economy which Is harder to define. The City Manager has concerns if some things are limited just to Bangor. An example is the Sewer Separation projects. They are very competitive with only 45 companies submitting bids. There Is one company in Bangor but there are also excellent companies In the immediate area. One of these companies that has been used does a terrific job for the City and B wouldn't be in the City's best interest if he felt like he shouldn't bid on Bangor business because the company located in Bangor will have an advantage. Councilor Famham suggested that another option is to use proposals as much as possible Instead of a bid process. There Is currently a $5,000 limit, which the Council can go back and change to $10,000, enabling staff to go out for informal quotes. The Committee further discussed the buying of computer equipment. Technology equipment Is difficult to buy through a bid process. One approach may be to raise the bid limit on computers. Staff could put it out to bid once at the beginning of the year and ask proposers for a list price and a discounted price because prices of computer equipment changes from day to day, it could be stated that when purchasing technology, it be on a proposal basis. Staff will continue to look at the different options and bring back more information for the Committee. The Committee agreed to meet again on this issue for further discussion. Councilor Crowley, who was absent for these discussions, will be brought up to date on this issue before the Committee meets again. With no further business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.