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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BPW-2008-06-18BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS PROCEEDINGS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK Committee of the Whole Meeting 5:00 p.m. June 18, 2008 PRESENT: Mayor Peterson Commissioners (4) –Chapman, Schlather, Tripp, Wykstra OTHERS PRESENT: City Attorney – Hoffman City Controller - Thayer Superintendent of Public Works - Gray Assistant Superintendent of Streets and Facilities - Ferrel Assistant Superintendent of Water and Sewer – Whitney Common Council Liaison – Coles Executive Assistant – Myers EXCUSED: Commissioner Jenkins DAC Liaison – Roberts GIAC Design Contract Award – Power to Act Deputy Director of the IURA Kittel outlined the RFP process that led to the recommendation to award the contract to LaBella Associates. She stated that the amount being awarded for the contract differs from the total project budget because of contingency funds for unforeseen expenses. Further discussion followed regarding the amount of funding that should be awarded at this time. Supt. Gray stated that the Board should award all project funding unless they want to have tight fiscal control over the project and are willing to vote on the many change orders that are often required for projects of this size and nature. Commissioner Schlather arrived at the meeting at 5:05 pm. Resolution By Commissioner Wykstra; Seconded by Commissioner Tripp WHEREAS, professional services proposals were received on May 16, 2008 for Architectural/Engineering Services for Reconstruction of the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (CP # 499), and WHEREAS, a client committee including City Engineering, Building Department and GIAC staff, Common Council members, GIAC Board members and Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency staff has reviewed the seven proposals received and made recommendations for award, now therefore be it RESOLVED, That the City of Ithaca Board of Public Works hereby awards the professional services contracts for Architectural/Engineering Services for Reconstruction of the Greater Ithaca Activities Center to LaBella Associates, PC of Rochester, New York, for amounts not to exceed $470,000, and be it further RESOLVED, That the Mayor be hereby authorized to enter into said contracts under the usual terms and conditions. Carried Unanimously Further discussion followed regarding the seven bids on the project and the variations in cost and quality. Further discussion followed on the number of local firms that submitted bids. June 18, 2008 Board of Public Works Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes Page 2 208 East State Street Trash Appeal – Power to Act By Commissioner Tripp; Seconded by Commissioner Wykstra WHEREAS, a trash violation was issued (Invoice 3596) for refuse picked up in front of 208 – 210 East State Street which included materials with that address on it, and WHEREAS, Moshe Pelli representing the property owners, has protested the bill, claiming that the addressee, New Age Hemp, no longer does business from that property, and WHEREAS, the department properly tagged the uncollected trash giving the property owners notice that they needed to take the trash back or report it to the county as illegally dumped, and WHEREAS, City Code requires the department to assess a special service charge when an unscheduled pick up is required to remove uncollected material, now therefore be it RESOLVED, That the Board of Public Works denies Mr. Pelli’s request to expunge the bill and directs staff to reissue the bill in the amount of $22.50 for collection. Commissioner Schlather requested further clarification on where the trash was removed from in relation to the location of the former New Age Hemp Company’s site. Supt. Gray stated that the trash from Commons residents is piled in several central locations to aid in the ease of pick up. Discussion followed regarding the location of the trash and the fine process. Commissioner Schlather questioned how the New Age Hemp Company could be fined for trash located more then a block away from their location and in an area where they would not normally dispose of their trash. Supt. Gray apologized to the Board. He stated that he did not carefully read through all of the documentation and it appeared that this request should have been handled administratively. He stated that the resolution was incorrect and that he would prefer to handle this request administratively rather than by resolution of the Board. The Board agreed that the resolution was incorrect and agreed that it should be withdrawn. Cornell Water Bill – Power to Act By Commissioner Schlather; seconded by Commissioner Tripp WHEREAS, the Board of Public Works has received requests from large water users to restructure the City’s approach to issuing water and sewer bills because they found it difficult to meet the 15 day billing period, and because those large water users claimed that the 10% penalty was punitive, and WHEREAS, the Board has reviewed the code with the City Chamberlain and has started the process to change the billing period and the late payment structure for future billing, now therefore be it, RESOLVED, That the Board of Public Works denies Cornell’s request to expunge penalty charges levied against bills issued prior to those changes taking effect, with the understanding that the Chamberlains office can review the prior billing and make any changes it feels are appropriate to reflect the protest or review period only. Carried Unanimously Supt. Gray stated that due to Cornell’s large size the payment process can be quite lengthy and often makes it impossible for these bills to be paid within the 15-day period. He stated that the Board had approved changes to the city Code to extend the payment period to avoid this problem in the future, however that change will not take effect until it is done with the attorney’s review process and approved by Common Council. June 18, 2008 Board of Public Works Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes Page 3 Discussion followed regarding the timetable for the code to be changed. Alderperson Coles left the meeting at 5:40 pm. 109 Catherine Street Water Bill – Power to Act By Commissioner Schlather; Seconded by Commissioner Chapman WHEREAS, The City has a practice of reading internal water meters from time to time in order to synchronize them with the remote readers provided on many properties, and WHEREAS, the property owners are sent a corrected bill when discrepancies are uncovered showing prior under billing for water delivered to that property, and WHEREAS, the remote meter readers were installed to relieve property owners of the duty to provide access to their water meters on a quarterly basis, with the understanding that access would be required from time to time to verify the accuracy of the numbers used for billing, and recognizing that there are a variety of reasons why the remote meter might not accurately reflect the water consumed, and WHEREAS, the property owner always has access to the internal meter to verify the accuracy of the bill, now therefore be it, RESOLVED, That the Board of Public Works denies the request of Chien Cheng for a reduction in the water and sewer bill greater than the one offered by staff reflecting an average water and sewer rate during the time between verified bills. Carried 4-1 Nays: Commissioner Tripp Commissioner Tripp stated that she could not vote in favor of the resolution because it puts too much responsibility on homeowners to make sure their meters are in sync and report problems. She stated that many homeowners might not know that they have to do this. Asst. Supt. Water and Sewer Whitney explained the need for adjustment and correlation of the two metering systems and the process of billing correction. Discussion followed regarding the amount of responsibility a property owner must take to insure that their own meters are reading similarly inside and outside of the home and that they are being billed correctly. Mayor Peterson stated that if the Board moves to approve this request it will set a precedent and the city will lose a great deal of money because of faulty meters. Supt. Gray stated that efforts are made to correlate the interior and exterior meters annually, however he stated that it would be wise of the City to look into adding a note to all water and sewer bills encouraging owners to check their own meters for errors. DPW Budget Adjustment Request – Power to Act Supt. Gray stated that during the last meeting the Board seemed interested in looking at the DPW budgets and making recommendations for adjustments to cover the increased costs from the increases in energy costs. He stated that after conversations with Mayor Peterson and City Controller Thayer he had decided not to prepare a resolution. Mayor Peterson and City Controller Thayer addressed the Board. They stated that every department’s budget is affected by the increases in energy costs and issues like these are taken care of at the end of the year by taking money from accounts that are in the black and transfer funds to those that are in the red. They stated that the Board should not take action to request adjustments to the budget at this time. Discussion followed regarding the 2008 work program and the current budget status. The Board agreed that they could not move in support of a resolution without having a solid understanding of where the budget is currently and projections of what monies will be needed to insure that the 2008 work program is completed. June 18, 2008 Board of Public Works Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes Page 4 Commissioner Schlather stated that he still would like to see a resolution brought before the Board encouraging Common Council to work to insure that the 2008 work program has adequate funding and can be completed in 2008. Commissioner Tripp stated that she would like to be able to review the 2009 priorities and work program prior to it being submitted for the budget review and recommendation process. City Controller Thayer stated that even though energy costs have risen much higher then projected other City accounts, like sales tax, have brought in more then expected. He stated that he believed that the City was still within the original budget footprint. Mayor Peterson stated that instead of looking for ways to increase funding due to the rise in fuel costs she would like to see DPW take efforts to minimize bad practices that waste fuel. Asst. Supt. Streets and Facilities stated that any of the projects that are not completed because the City does not have enough money budgeted for them are liabilities and may actually cost the City more than if the projects had been funded and completed as scheduled. Mayor Peterson stated that she would not vote on any resolution making a recommendation to Common Council to examine and reallocate funding for the 2008 budget due to the increases in fuel costs because she herself is a Common Council memebr. Cornell Community Transportation Investment Initiative Discussion Traffic Systems Engineer Logue briefly outlined the projects listed in the initiative and asked if the Board had any further issues for him to take back. Commissioner Schlather stated that the projects listed by Cornell are great for one segment of the community but do nothing for a majority of the community. He stated that he did not want this project list to drive the capital projects undertaking by the City in the coming years. Traffic Systems Engineer Logue stated that these projects should not drive the priorities of the City. This list simply outlines projects that Cornell would be willing to contribute to the cost of if another party undertakes them. He further stated that he would like to know which projects the Board is interested in pursuing since the City currently does not have a 5 year transportation plan. Discussion followed regarding the projects listed by Cornell and the projects the Board believes should be high priority in the City. University Avenue - Negotiation Update City Attorney Hoffman briefly reported out on the status of the negotiations regarding University Avenue. The Board agreed that the majority of the next agenda should be set aside for University Avenue updates and discussion. ADJOURNMENT On a motion the meeting adjourned at 7:20 p.m. _____________________ Jessica Myers Carolyn K. Peterson Executive Assistant Mayor