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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-09-02 Finance Committee Minutes • Finance Committee Meeting Minutes September 2, 1997 Councilors Attending: Don Soucy, Pat Blanchette, Jim Tyler, David Leen, Joe Baldacci Staff Attending: Edward A. Barrett, Ron Heller, Erik Stumpfel, Mary-Anne Chatila, Dave Pellegrino, Randy Mace, Brad Moore, Don Winslow, Bob Ziegelaar, Dale Theriault, Brian Enman, John Roach, Tim Ring Others Attending: Roxanne Saucier, Byron Hale Meeting Convened at: 6:05 pm 1. Executive Session: Poverty Abatement Request Beverly Grant, 92 Fruit Street, RE #03799. All taxes, penalties and interest attributable to fiscal 1996 and prior years are to be abated. This includes any and all amounts owed • under the existing tax mortgage. The Grants will enter into a workout agreement within a week for their fiscal 1997 and 1998 taxes. An agreement should be structured that fits their budgetary constraints, which will probably mean 12 months of payments with a "balloon" at the end. 2. Executive Session: Workers' Compensation Settlements (3) 3. Bids: a. Exercise Equipment (Police Department) Tri-State Health and Fitness of Hooksett, NH($7,610.00) This item was considered at the July 21, 997 meeting of the Finance Committee and postponed so that alternatives could be investigated. The recommendation is to purchase the exercise equipment from Fitness of Hooksett, NH the low responsive bidder at $7,610.00. The other bids were not considered equal to the specified treadmill and stationary bicycle. Approved. b. Sewage Pump and Force Main at 1 Whitney Street (Community Development) C & C Contractors, Inc. of Brewer($7,700) This is the force main at 1 Whitney Street, which is a street off Kenduskeag Avenue. The house can't reach the City's main sewer line. This is a project that is • being funded by the DEP and 50% by the Community Development Rehab loan. The recommendation is to award to C & C Contractors, the low bidder. They have done work indirectly for the City before for a subcontractor. Approved. c. Wet Waste Container Bags (Airport Department) Stone Container Corporation at Montvale, NJ($6,250.50) Wet Waste Container Bags are a requirement of the FAA and the Department of Agriculture for international trash. Stone Container Corporation was the only bidder at $537.75 per hundred. The cost and markup on the bags are included in the fixed cleaning rates charged the airlines and private aircraft. d. Custodial Services (Airport Department) River City Commercial Cleaning of Bangor($253,175) The last firm did not work out so the contract was not renewed. Proposals were received and interviews conducted with two of the highest rated firms and the recommendation is to go with River City Commercial Cleaning. This is the vendor that was contracted out to do the work prior to the award of the last firm. Approved recommendation. • e. Custodial Services (Health and Welfare Department) Central Maine Cleaning of Bangor($12,324) The recommendation is to go with Central Maine Cleaning. The lower cost proposal from Four Star Cleaning was not accepted due to their unacceptable performance at the Airport over the previous three years. Approved recommendation. f. Greens Mower(Parks and Recreation/Golf Course) Sawtelle Brothers, Inc. of Lawrence, MA($13,461) The recommendation is to buy from the next lowest bidder, Sawtelle Brothers. This is a Jacobsen, rather than the John Deere equipment. The John Deere equipment was tried out and it was felt that it was less than a perfect machine. Staff has knowledge of the Jacobsen and has extra parts in stock. Approved. g. Ice Resurfacer (Parks and Recreation/Sawyer Arena) Frank J. Zamboni & Company, Inc. of Paramount, CA($51,500) Bids were received from two companies, Zamboni Company and H.L. LeClair Inc. The Zamboni Company is the original manufacturer of ice resurfacing equipment • and the "Zamboni" is used extensively throughout the country. The Zamboni 500 is the low bid item. A lot of research was done on the emissions because of the current difficulties. Staff spoke with a number of people and they all agreed that if this unit is operated and maintained properly in a building with good ventilation, the machine will do the work needed and not present a hazard for the emissions. There is an electric, battery operated Zamboni for $71,500, considerably more expensive, another $20,000. There has been mixed reviews about this equipment. Councilor Farnham voiced her concerns to Dale regarding the emissions in the arena. Dale pointed out that $10,000 was spent last year putting in two roof vents at the arena. The air is moving around better in the building. Staff feels that there will not be any more problems with emissions. The recommendation is with the Zamboni 500. Approved recommendation. 3. Purchase of Voice Mail System for City Hall The current capital projects budget includes $7,500 for a voice mail system for City Hall. Since the equipment is an integral part of the existing telephone system in City Hall, it is recommended that the voice mail equipment be purchased from Executel Communications Systems, Inc. (ECS) and forgo the bid process due to the single source aspects of the voice mail system. ECS installed the current system about 10 years ago. This system is capable of handling up to 1,000 mailboxes. It has 30 hours of message time. Staff feels this machines will handle all the needs now and into the future. This system will also be able to have mailboxes for people that don't have extensions here, i.e. Council members. IP There will still be an individual answering the phone asking if the person calling would like to leave a message on voice mail. The proposed "Infostar VX2" voice mail system will meet the current and future requirements of City Hall and its cost ($6,320.00) is within the budget. There is also a spare computer that meets the requirements of the system. Approved recommendation. 4. Single Source Purchase of Manning Samplers for the Wastewater Treatment Plant Brad Moore is recommending that the City purchase three automatic samplers from Manning Environmental at $2500 each. We have these samplers and there is good compatibility among this equipment. Approved recommendation. 5. Bangor Youth Hockey Agreement This is a revised agreement with Bangor Youth Hockey. Edward Barrett included as backup material to Council a Lease Termination Agreement. The actual amount that the City will be paying off the loan is $141,045.31. This agreement would make the City the owner of the equipment, the operator of the facility and Bangor Youth Hockey would be paying a $10 per hour surcharge that would be applied to prior amounts owed to the City. Bangor Youth Hockey is in agreement. Approved recommendation. O 6. FY98 Police Vehicle Expenditures -Motor Pool The police officers are displeased with the Ford vehicles and there has also been maintenance problems, particularly in transmissions. In addition, because Ford is the only one that makes them, the prices have gone up dramatically. They used to be purchased for $18,000-$19,000 and have gone up to $24,000. Staff would like to investigate further the notion of refurbishing some of the existing vehicles. Randy Mace explained that there is a Chevrolet dealership in Lansing, MI. that after getting out of the police car business, continued to get a lot of inquiries from police departments that they still wanted Chevrolets. They, in turn, came up with a remanufacturing facility. They bring in used police cruisers and work very closely with G.M. and they have put together an assembly line. There is an 8-10 hour inspection of the cars, police departments are given the cost to take the car and put it back into "as new" condition both in terms of physical appearance and drivability performance. Their claims are that these cars are virtually indistinguishable from a brand new one that is bought off the lot. The work is performed in Lansing. They would come here and pick the cars up, give an estimate and if the police department decided not to go through with the work, they would ship them back at no cost. Typically, four cruisers are replaced and the vehicles are downgraded into something other than a front line cruiser. At this time, there are two Caprices that just go out of service at the Motor Pool that could be used as test vehicles on this program. The cost for new cruisers is $23,000-$24,000 and the cost to do this typically run from a low of$6,000 to a high of$12,000. The program has been very well received. Recommended approval. • 7. Broadway Widening Project This pertains to two small parcels of land that the City owns that the State wishes to purchase for the Broadway widening. The first parcel is just before the I-95 Southbound on-ramp. The parcel has been appraised at $260 and they are offering $100. The second parcel is at the corner of Mary Snow School, where they want to widen the turn onto the northbound ramp. It is appraised at $3211 and they have offered $3200. Recommendation to Council is approved. FIN9-2.97