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Home My WebLink AboutMN-GOV-2004-11-22 .,. GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK Regular Meeting 7:00 p.m. November 22, 2004 PRESENT: Chair Mackesey Alderpersons (4) Whitmore, Zumoff, Taylor, Korherr OTHERS PRESENT: Asst. City Attorney— Dunn Mayor Peterson Alderperson Tomlan Information Management Specialist - Day ADDITIONS TO OR DELETIONS FROM THE AGENDA: Alderperson Mackesey requested the addition of the following item: Discussion of December, 2004 Governance Committee Meeting. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: By Alderperson: Taylor: Seconded by: Alderperson: Korherr Resolved, that the minutes of the September 27, 2004 minutes be approved as published. Carried Unanimously PUBLIC COMMENT Fay Gougakis addressed the Board regarding the Lake Source Cooling Project. RESPONSE TO PUBLIC BY COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Alderperson Zumoff thanked Ms. Gougakis for bringing the information regarding the Lake Source Cooling project to their attention. AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTION 39-1 OF CHAPTER 39, ENTITLED "CONTRACTS" OF THE CITY OF ITHACA MUNICIPAL CODE: By Alderperson Whitmore: Seconded by: Alderperson Taylor ORDINANCE NO. OF 2004 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTION 39-1 OF CHAPTER 39 (ENTITLED "CONTRACTS") OF THE CITY OF ITHACA MUNICIPAL CODE. WHEREAS, pursuant to Ordinance Number 2003-13 adopted on July 9th, 2003, the Common Council of the City of Ithaca enacted a new Chapter 215 of the City of Ithaca Municipal Code entitled"Human Rights Protections", and WHEREAS, the said Human Rights Protections Chapter, among other things, established a new list of protected classes of individuals, and WHEREAS, the Common Council of the City of Ithaca now wishes to amend the Contracts Chapter of the Code to make it consistent with the anti-discrimination language set forth in Chapter 215, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED AND ENACTED by Common Council of the City of Ithaca, New York, that Section 39-1 of Chapter 39 of the City of Ithaca Municipal Code is hereby amended as follows: Section 1 § 39-1. Nondiscrimination clause. The following clause shall be included in any city contract: "The contractor will not discriminate against any employee, applicant for employment, subcontractor, supplier of materials or services or program participant because of race, age, creed, color, sex, . _•. e •. -, _ _ e" , _ ' . - __ _ - - _ _ - - - • _ actual or perceived age; creed; color; disability; ethnicity; familial status; gender; height; immigration or citizenship status; marital status; national origin; race; religion; sex; sexual orientation; socioeconomic status; or weight." ARTICLE II, Responsibility Determinations § 39-2. Guidelines. A. In deliberating upon the responsibility of a bidder or a subcontractor, all contracting agencies shall give due consideration to any credible evidence or reliable information that the past or current record of a bidder or proposed subcontractor includes any of the following: (1) Lack of adequate expertise, prior experience with comparable projects or financial resources to perform the work of the contract or subcontract in a timely, competent and acceptable manner. Evidence of such a lack of ability to perform may include, but shall not be limited to, evidence of suspension or revocation for cause of any professional license of any director or officer, or any holder of 5% or more of the bidder's or proposed subcontractor's stock or equity; failure to submit satisfactory evidence of insurance, surety bonds or financial responsibility; or a history of termination of prior contracts for cause. (2) Criminal conduct in connection with government contract or the conduct of business activities involving the infliction, injury or intentional property damage, in connection with involvement in a pattern of racketeering, labor racketeering, extortion, obstruction of justice or other comparable crimes; bribery, fraud, bid-rigging, embezzlement or other comparable crimes; or serious moral turpitude, fundamental lack of integrity or knowing disregard for the law. Evidence of such conduct may include a judgment of conviction, pending criminal indictment of formal grant of immunity in connection with a criminal prosecution of the bidder or proposed subcontractor, and director or officer, or any holder of 5% or more of the shares or equity of the bidder or proposed subcontractor, or any affiliate of the bidder or proposed subcontractor. (3) Grave disregard for the personal safety of employees, city personnel or members of the public. Due consideration shall be given to whether available evidence concerning the training of employees, equipment actually in use at the work site and company practices for identifying and addressing deficiencies and securing employee compliance demonstrates a genuine commitment to safety or lack of the same. (4) Willful noncompliance with the prevailing wage and supplements payment requirements of the Labor Law, including consideration of any pending violations of the bidder or proposed subcontractor, or any affiliate of the bidder or proposed subcontractor. (5) Any other significant Labor Law violations, including but not limited to child labor violations, failure to pay wages or unemployment insurance tax delinquencies. (6) Any significant violation of the Workers' Compensation Law, including but not limited to the failure of a bidder or proposed subcontractor to provide proof of workers' compensation or disability benefits coverage. (7) Any criminal conduct involving violations of the Environmental Conservation Law or other federal, state or city environmental statutes or repeated or significant civil violations for federal, state or city environmental statutes or regulations. (8) The failure of a bidder or contractor to demonstrate good-faith efforts to comply with applicable federal, state or city statutes and regulations requiring efforts to solicit and utilize minority-owned and women-owned business enterprises and disadvantaged business enterprises as potential subcontractors, in connection with a pending bid for the performance of a federal-aid or state- or city-funded or-assisted project subject to such statutory and regulatory requirements. (9) The failure of a bidder, contractor or proposed subcontractor to comply with federal, state or city statutes or regulations requiring the hiring, training and employment of persons presumed to be disadvantaged in accordance with federal, state or city definitions to meet federal, state and city equal employment opportunity requirements. (10) The submission of a bid which is mathematically or materially unbalanced. (11) The submission of a bid which is so much lower than the agency's confidential engineers' estimate for the cost of, or anticipated bids for, the contract that it appears unlikely that the bidder will be able to perform the contract satisfactorily at the price bid. (12) Any other cause of so serious or compelling a nature that it raises questions about the present responsibility of a contractor or subcontractor, including but not limited to, submission to a contracting agency of a false or misleading statement on a uniform questionnaire, or in some other form, in connection with a bid for or award of a contract or a request for approval of a subcontractor. B. In addition to the factors specified above, contracting agencies may also give due consideration to any other factors considered by the contracting agencies to bear upon responsibility, including but not limited to any mitigating factors brought to the agency's attention by the bidder or proposed subcontractor. § 39-3. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated: BIDDER, CONTRACTOR and SUBCONTRACTOR: A. Any person or business entity submitting a competitive bid for, receiving the award of or submitted for approval as a subcontractor on a contract by any one of the contracting agencies. B. A corporation, partnership or proprietorship shall be considered to be an affiliate of the bidder or proposed subcontractor if one owns, controls or has the ability to control the other, or if a third person, corporation, partnership or proprietorship owns, controls or has the ability to control both. CONTRACT -- Any construction or service contract that is required by statute to be let by competitive bid to the lowest reasonable bidder. CONTRACTING AGENCIES -- Any agency or department of the city which is letting a contract through competitive bidding. Section 2. SEVERABILITY. Severability is intended throughout and within the provisions of this ordinance. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause,phrase or portion of this ordinance is held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, then that decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. Section 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Ordinance shall take effect in accordance with law upon publication of notice as provided in the Ithaca City Charter. Discussion followed on the floor regarding the need for updating this language so that it will conform with the anti-discrimination legislation recently adopted by the city. A vote on the proposed ordinance resulted as follows: Carried Unanimously GREEN BUILDING RATING SYSTEM: Kevin Stack, Christian Nielsen, Sarah Welch and Peter Lindabury presented the concepts of the Green Building Rating System. They state that green buildings have better ventilation systems and lighting, which resulted in higher productivity, and ;- healthier employees. The information presented was offered as an alternative for newly constructed buildings and the remodeling of existing buildings. TCAT TRANSPORTATION AGREEMENT: Chair Mackesey reported that the TCAT agreement is to go into effect 1/1/05, and needs to be approved by Common Council. Asst. City Attorney Dunn reviewed the contract, highlighting the changes between the old and new agreements. Due to the complexity of the information, it was decided that more time was needed for review and discussion. This item will be considered at a special Common Council Meeting later in December. NEW BUSSINESS: The December 20, 2004 Governance Committee meeting will be cancelled. ADJOURNMENT: On a motion the meeting adjourned at 8:56 p.m. Unctu1 .)(tv, Mo610).Q1 Cindie L. Day Pamela Mackesey Information Management Specialist Chair