APPRO-2025-1 : An Appropriation from Contract Stabilization (#84042) in the amount of $363,000 (Three Hundred Sixty Three Thousand Dollars) to Department of Public Works (#014023) for the replacement of Melrose High School Skylights.

Transcript (~32 min @ 11:37)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 11:27 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. This, um, uh, order passes. Thank you for being with us tonight. Next is appropriation 2025 dash one and appropriation from contract stabilization, uh, number 84 0 42 in the amount of 363,000 uh, dollars to Department of Public Works. Uh, number 0 1 4 0 2 3 for the replacements of Mars High School skylights.

▶ 11:56 Speaker 8: Sorry. Give us one second.

▶ 12:04 Jen Grigoraitis: Good evening, counselors. Um, I'm here tonight with DPW Director Elena Parus Ellis, and CFO, Carrie Golden to address this request. And I'm gonna turn it over to each of them to talk about their respective areas of expertise, namely the work that we've identified that needs to be done, and then our recommendation for where we would like to pay for this from. Um, I just wanted to overarching acknowledge that this is not where we wanna be tonight, is talking about this. I know we had had a lengthy discussion with you all back in May about the desire to do this work and replace the skylights at the high school after one had unexpectedly failed last school year. Um, the work has come in much higher than anticipated in costs. And given that we have no dedicated capital maintenance line in our budget, that is requiring us to make a request to come to you for stabilization money and to be doing that 69 days into the fiscal year. So, um, I just wanna frame it that we're not thrilled that this is where we are at, but also really recognize that this is work that absolutely needs to be funded so that we can move forward and hopefully do so and secure the pricing that we've been provided. So I'm gonna turn it over to Elena and Carrie. Elena, do you wanna go first? Sure.

▶ 13:13 Speaker 5: Um, so as the mayor said, obviously we don't like being back here asking

▶ 13:18 Speaker 6: for more money for a project that we've already requested funding for.

▶ 13:22 Speaker 5: Um, at the time when we requested the funding

▶ 13:23 Speaker 6: before the project was about to go out to bid, the bid documents were done. We had a hundred percent cost estimate.

▶ 13:30 Speaker 7: Um, and then as we proceeded

▶ 13:31 Speaker 6: through the bid opening process, we did not receive bids, um, on the skylight portion. We didn't receive a qualifying bid for that. And so we had to carry an allowance in order to sign the contract and then negotiate with the general contractor for the final price. Um, they had to get a sub to do the work. Um, so we're, we're asking

▶ 13:57 Speaker 6: for $363,000 that covers the added costs in addition to a $50,000 contingency because we wanna ensure that we will not be back, um, a third time for this item. And so now we have, we have bid numbers in hand. We have a contractor and a subcontractor all ready to do the work. And the position we're in right now is that the lead times on the, um, materials are very long, six plus months. And so we need to order the materials now to be able to do the project next summer. Um, and the manufacturer has said that he'll hold his price until October 1st. So if we don't get through this process in September and get the materials ordered, it will only be more expensive. Um, some of you're probably aware that one of the skylights did fall in, um, at the high school last year. We were actually already working on the bid documents for this project at the time. So it was a need we had identified. Um, but, you know, just makes it that much more visible and that much more critical for us to advance it quickly.

▶ 14:59 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Great.

▶ 15:02 Speaker 4: Um, so I'll just kind of address the funding piece. Um, like the mayor said, uh, we are very early into the fiscal year, and so these are often the most challenging things to, um, fund when these, uh, surprise things pop up. So we did decide to go to the contract stabilization fund just given the balance that is in that fund. Um, when the fund was originally established back in oh six, it was a contractual obligation and salary and wage, um, fund. So, um, I think most of the appropriations that the city council has seen from that has been for, uh, collective bargaining agreements. Um, there was one appropriation for contract last, uh, fiscal year. It was one of the first orders of the fiscal year. Um, it was for $5,000 for the St. Mary's lease that was, um, being negotiated at the time of the contract. Um, if this order is approved, the balance in the capital stabilization, or I'm sorry, the contract stabilization fund will be 670,902. Um, so there's still some money in there. Um, currently on right now, um, I provided a report. I, there's two things that I provided, um, a memo that shows the balances in all the stabilization funds. Um, and then the other piece is a page from our official statement, um, that we have to provide when we go up for bond ratings. And it just identifies, uh, the collective bargaining agreements and where we are, uh, which ones are outstanding. And currently, um, we just have one or, or two contracts for our superiors and patrol that are outta contract for fiscal 2025.

▶ 16:51 Maya Jamaleddine: Perfect. Thank you.

▶ 16:52 Jen Grigoraitis: Can I, Madam chair, can I just expand on that a little bit? Um, no. So I think recognizing that I sat in one of your seats this time last year. I recognize that we're often before you asking you to make a binary choice of yes or no, but you're not always have the full context of what are the repercussions of that, yes or no. So the benefit of the conversations that we are having up on the second floor is that our known or anticipated known contractual obligations for FY 26, excuse me, FY 25, that we would look to take out of this fund with your approval is any retro pay for our two outstanding contracts, which would be the two police unions that went out of contract meeting. Their current contract expired in June of this past year. So right now we're in a situation where once we settle, that contract will be needing to do some sort of back pay. Similar to what you all saw when we settled the fire contract. There are no other city or school contracts that will go out of contract in this current fiscal year. Um, the other cost that we anticipate may come to you all from contract stabilization is that we aren't, we likely will have two retirees from the police department. And contractually those come with fairly significant payouts of vacation time, comp time. And so depending on the total cost of that, we may be looking for that money to be drawn down from here. On the capital side, the issues that were not known that have popped up that we're sort of internally deciding when and how to address, are that we have had two police cruisers that have been in accidents, um, and we believe are both total losses in terms of drivability. So at least one of those vehicles we anticipate would absolutely need to be replaced this year. That's the kind of thing that, that we would look to the capital stabilization account, recognizing that that is a fixed thing that we need to purchase and we would hope to have some money from insurance, but it will certainly not be fully covered. Um, the other item that some of you all may be aware is that we've had some, um, structural issues on the Lincoln School playground, not the, um, tot lot that you can see from the main road, but the one behind the building, that playground is about 25 years old. We've had, um, former park superintendent Joan Bell out there along with a playground consultant. The useful life of that playground has been met. We're not able to replace any of the components of that playground 'cause they're no longer made. So in order to make that a fully usable, completely inclusive playground by 2024 standards, we would be looking at a total replacement, which we anticipate is around $150,000. Um, that's obviously not a critical capital need in the sense that nothing is structurally failing in a building that we're putting folks in. But clearly we wanna make sure that that school building has an equitable and accessible playground. And in reference to what Elena mentioned about lead times, even if money fell from the sky today, we would be looking at that as a project for next summer. So we're recognizing that the further into the fiscal year we go without identifying a funding source for that project, the further we get into next school year before that playground is, um, completely renovated. So none of those are things that you all have to grapple with tonight, but I just wanted to give you the benefit of sort of the other things that we're weighing as potential requests to you all as you look at these files. Thank you.

▶ 20:02 Maya Jamaleddine: Awesome. I I, I do appreciate the, um, extra additional information, um, uh, provided any question from my colleagues. Okay. I have, um, counselor Hamilton, vice Chair Williams, and Councilor Ver and Councilor Pen Carro.

▶ 20:25 Speaker 2: Everyone go

▶ 20:28 Speaker 9: Ahead, Madam Chair.

▶ 20:29 Ward Hamilton: And thank you all for being here this evening and through the chair. Um, thank you Ms. Proa Ellis. Thank you also for meeting with me last week to discuss this project and timeline and certainly helped me. Um, this afternoon. I, I was thinking about this and I realized maybe I went through Melrose High School and really didn't look up. I just appreciated the, the, the natural light. So I reached out to Mr. Merrill, the principal, and asked, and, and right about the time that the kids got out, he and I walked up and we took a look. I was, um, very startled and concerned that there is nothing in place to protect people in case another section of that skylight falls out. And I, part of the reason I thought of it was I'm like, what did we do? Did we take them all out? Did we put in overhead protection? And there's nothing? And I would submit to you that there's no way to tell by looking if another panel is gonna drop. And by virtue of the fact that one panel has fallen, we can't claim to be surprised if another one falls. So, um, I thought about that. And, um, this isn't to ambush you in any way, shape or form, and I think you know that. Um, but in looking at the project, uh, which I did when you all shared those documents, it appears that when it's time to do the skylights, part of what the contractor's gonna do is they're gonna erect staging inside the building and then, you know, to work from underneath. And obviously, we're not gonna just crack the glass and let it all drop. So there will be protection and stuff. Could we ask the contractor now because of this safety issue to come in, put the staging, put the overhead protection, it would be like two by eights running across and, uh, you know, plywood. So that one, they've, they've started, they've mobilized. Um, two, we're protecting everybody inside the building. There'll be a change order, there'll be a longer scaffolding rental period. But, um, I'd be very concerned to leave things the way that they are now. I think there's some exposure for the city and nevermind the money part. Like we don't want anyone to get hurt. And, um, so that's, that's my initial observation. I

▶ 22:47 Speaker 5: Yeah, that is, that is definitely something that we can look into. We did consider early on, um, if we could either close off hallways during the school year

▶ 22:58 Speaker 6: or, um, you know, erect something, uh, allowing us to get up there. But it, as you said, it's scaffolding.

▶ 23:05 Speaker 5: It wouldn't be the initial look at it, said

▶ 23:07 Speaker 6: that it would take up too much of the scaffolding itself would take up too much of the hallways for those to be usable. And the principal said, there's no way we can function without those hallways in use during the school year.

▶ 23:19 Speaker 5: So, but we, we will take absolutely another look at that.

▶ 23:22 Ward Hamilton: Sure. Okay. So he and I looked at that and, you know, I, I do this. And so I think there is a way to use pipe frame staging that you can walk through. Just like when we walk down in front of the Y and there's a staging and there's overhead protection, um, yes, we'd probably have to, it would cost more. What I'm saying to you is, one, you have my commitment to spend more to I, and two, I don't think I need a commitment from you that we're going to do something to protect these kids. I'm ready to vote to support this and really make it happen. We can't leave that and go and consider what we're gonna do. I, I, I would like a commitment tonight that we're gonna do that and we're gonna vote on it tonight and hopefully we all move this forward. But that's scary.

▶ 24:13 Speaker 6: We have the $50,000 contingency. Um, so we hopefully that would be able to cover it.

▶ 24:18 Speaker 5: I mean, I, I guess I can't commit to something

▶ 24:19 Speaker 6: beyond the budget that we're having approved. I would, but if we can do it within the budget, then we can work with the contractor to figure out what they can do.

▶ 24:29 Ward Hamilton: Right. And, and I would say, and I don't, here's where, I don't know how the financing stuff works, but we've got the money now to do it now, and I think you start to find out about free cash in November and then it gets certified February, march. It, I think the additional scaffolding rental based on my experience could be another $50,000. It could be a little bit more. Um, I'm, whatever it takes, we need to protect the kids, but there's probably a way to to fashion it into the project already. Um, so I would strongly, I, I would like that commitment tonight that we're gonna, and if not, what are we going to do? Because I, that's, that's all for now.

▶ 25:08 Speaker 9: Okay. Thank you. Thank

▶ 25:10 Maya Jamaleddine: You. You're welcome. Next I have the Vice Chair Williams.

▶ 25:15 Ryan Williams: Thank you. Um, I confess, I don't remember when we talked about this, uh, you said it was about a year ago that that skylight fell through?

▶ 25:23 Speaker 5: No, it was less than that. And we, we actually talked about it during free cash in the spring at our budget hearing.

▶ 25:29 Ryan Williams: That's, so I actually, what I don't remember is the actual date that this light fell

▶ 25:34 Speaker 6: That I, I don't know the exact date, but it was in the spring. Yeah, it was during the school day. The, um, the personnel at the school, the custodians and the principal could hear some cracking and, um, so cleared the area. Yeah. And then I guess about 15 minutes later it fell, it's a tempered glass, so it heavy shatters into a million little pieces and they swept it up and, and then got up on the roof and um, and boarded it up. Just that one. So that one hole just has a board over it right now.

▶ 26:06 Ryan Williams: So, and I'm looking at the, um, at the one of the two A and it says several contractors and engineered, evaluated the skylights and they're beyond their life cycle. I should lean forward. They're beyond their life cycle and in need of replacement. So I guess my, like, my question on this, and I, I know that we've inherited a lot of this stuff 'cause these are old, right? And like everybody in the room has inherited this stuff, but it, are we worried that there are other dangerous architectural elements that are beyond their life cycle? And, you know, can we, you know, do you get the receipts and say, Hey, everything that was installed in this state, we need to go up and evaluate it. I, you know, I don't know what's up there, but are there other risks, other concerns that, um,

▶ 26:53 Speaker 5: About This stuff? So maybe

▶ 26:54 Speaker 6: not a risk in the same way of, of something, you know, falling into the school, but the entire learning commons roof needs to be replaced. And that was, that's actually where this project started. So the first time we appeared before the council, we were requesting money to do a roof evaluation of the Ripley, the Franklin, and the learning commons. Um, when the architects from Gale got up there and viewed the condition of the skylights, um, they said, you know, this is also a high need. So we added it into their scope to evaluate that as well. And they completed that evaluation. The Franklin roof was well over a million dollars multimillion dollars. The, um, and the Franklin also has many masonry needs. The high school, the learning commons roof by itself was about $3 million. Um, the skylights were estimated to be about 600,000, which is why we said, okay, let's use that money we have right now for this. Um, and then the Ripley roof is so far beyond its useful life and, and is a whole different discussion. So, um, there are deferred maintenance needs all over the city. And I, I've been saying this, uh, for as long as I've been in this position that without a recurring capital line item, either in the, um, the operating budget or a set bonding amount, that's just set aside in the model for, for continuous facility maintenance. We just keep kicking the can down the road and we have a lot of needs.

▶ 28:23 Ryan Williams: Yeah, I hear that there's definitely a big need for a robust capital improvement program that's funded. Yes. Yes, yes. That is funded. Yes. We're

▶ 28:31 Speaker 6: Good at identifying the needs. Yes.

▶ 28:32 Ryan Williams: I think, I think everybody, I hope everybody around the table shares that, um, concern. The second question I have is with regard to the contract stabilization fund and the targets that we set for that fund, you know, where is that? Are we gonna be able to recover that money and meet those contract, the, the meet the target that we've set for that fund in the fiscal year? Are we worried that we're gonna run it a little thin?

▶ 29:00 Speaker 4: Sue? Um, we are anticipating that we will have free cash this year, um, for fiscal 24. Um, we'll find out in late fall, um, of 2024. So typically when, um, we look at free cash, we try to, we invest, we try to, uh, up to 20% back into stabilization funds. So we would be looking to replace, um, whatever we can based on other deeds though. Um, we kind of look at free cash as a package and other things that have come up. So we would hope to be able to put money back in.

▶ 29:38 Ryan Williams: Yeah. So I, in a way you're kind of like, you're, you're addressing the most important needs as fast as you can in this case. 'cause there's such a threat. Mm-Hmm. Um, and then rather than wait for free cash to come in and then apply, you know, to capital projects, you're paying for it now and then reimbursing the fund. Right. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me.

▶ 29:56 Speaker 1: You alright? No questions. Thank you.

▶ 29:57 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Um, counselor Vandiver,

▶ 30:00 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. And do we need to gavel into the next meeting for before I continue? Are we okay?

▶ 30:05 Speaker 2: We have 10 more minutes. We Have time. Okay.

▶ 30:08 Kimberly Vandiver: Um, thank you. Uh, I guess my question about this is, it seems important but not essential that I get done immediately. I understand there's a lead time and it has to be committed to, to get it done. Um, but you know, when this vote happened in June and people weren't interested in, in a larger budget, I, I think what people to some extent were voting for is, you know, living with the exact budget put down and, and all of the list of, of things that were presented to them of, we won't have a capital budget. We won't have these positions, we won't have this, we won't have that. Um, so I wonder if, you know, we said that there would be some, some tough re you know, consequences of that vote. And I wonder if this would logically be one of them and whether it's worth trying to make it all come together kind of outside of the budget or if we should be, you know, allowing some things to be missed that are, that are not mission critical.

▶ 31:10 Jen Grigoraitis: So I I think this is mission critical. I mean, I think we have recognized that this is a real concern. The skylights I think are 50.

▶ 31:19 Speaker 6: They're original to the school, original to the building.

▶ 31:21 Jen Grigoraitis: So about 50 years old. Um, one of them has already failed. We have no identification for what won't we put 900 kids a day in that building. Um, not almost none of them had the ability to vote for the financial future of this community. So I certainly don't wanna, you know, make, you know, have that reality carried out on their safety. So I I hear you. And I think part of what we're starting to recognize is that free cash, which has been sort of this city's safety valve for projects like this, um, given the realities of, um, you know, public construction and the increasing lead times for everything is that that almost doesn't allow us to be nimble enough to bid these projects, get contractors on board and stand up the work in the eight week period when we don't have buildings full of kids. So I think I recognize that it, it's incredibly frustrating. I say this as the mayor and as someone who puts a kid in that building every day as a high school student, that we're not gonna be turning around and doing this work tomorrow, but if we make this decision soon, then we can definitively do this work as soon as possible. Whereas if we wait until late fall or the winter when free catch is certified, we're likely beginning another school year where this is still a safety concern. And just to, um, circle back to Counselor Hamilton's concerns, we will absolutely be looking into everything we can do and have had multiple conversations with the superintendent and we'll reevaluate what we need to do to make the building obviously as structurally safe as possible given the realities that we're operating in. Mm-Hmm.

▶ 32:47 Speaker 5: I think if I could just add to that too, that the, um, these types of capital projects, any

▶ 32:51 Speaker 6: of these capital projects, they don't ever come out of the operating budget the way the operating budget is structured.

▶ 32:56 Speaker 5: And even if the overrided passed,

▶ 32:57 Speaker 6: this would not be something that would ever have been funded from even the revised operating budget. Um, these are always capital asks.

▶ 33:06 Speaker 7: Um, if

▶ 33:10 Speaker 6: with my comment earlier about a recurring capital line item, that would be amazing if someday we were to get there.

▶ 33:16 Speaker 5: Um, but this is, this would've been independent

▶ 33:19 Speaker 6: of the override even had it passed. We don't have, um, in the facilities budget, it's all maintenance and custodial and, you know, it's day to day stuff, capital projects sit outside of that.

▶ 33:36 Kimberly Vandiver: Okay. And is there any, you know, just in the interest of, of, of limiting spending is there, is there, you know, a version that's safe but not beautiful or safe but not full of light or anything like that that's

▶ 33:45 Speaker 5: Less expensive? No, we're already, yeah,

▶ 33:46 Speaker 6: we're already going with the least expensive option of, I was, I was a proponent initially of putting back in very similar, um, tempered glass because to have the maximum amount of light coming in.

▶ 34:00 Speaker 6: Um, and the consultants told us that was easily several hundred thousand more. So we didn't even bid the project with that option. We had to bid it with the, the Cal Wall Pro product,

▶ 34:08 Speaker 5: which is, um,

▶ 34:10 Speaker 6: or similar product, which is like a sort of translucent glass.

▶ 34:15 Kimberly Vandiver: Okay. Okay. That's helpful to know and, and the direction as well that, that's gonna end up going in. Okay. Thank you.

▶ 34:20 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you Counselor Vandiver. Next. Counselor Karani.

▶ 34:25 Speaker 4: It's my turn. Okay. Um,

▶ 34:29 Manjula Karamcheti: so I clearly this is a safety issue and Mayor Gita, I think you spoke to the things that I was feeling about the situation. Uh, so I really appreciate you like naming it that it is a critical situation. It has to be addressed. Our kids are in the building. I think what I'm just trying to understand, and I don't have the expertise that Counselor Hamilton has in terms of, um, like process, but I think I'm just trying to wrap my head around. We have a 50-year-old building that we had proactively identified as needing some significant work, and yet here we are, like in this emergency situation right now.

▶ 35:12 Speaker 10: So I'm just like, timeline calendar prevention.

▶ 35:14 Manjula Karamcheti: I'm just struggling with that piece of where we are right now. And I, I don't have like the expertise to understand how this happens and why,

▶ 35:29 Speaker 8: but I'm just struggling with that in terms of like how we prioritize and how we plan to like,

▶ 35:35 Manjula Karamcheti: prevent things like tempered glass falling in the middle of a hallway where kids go. So I don't know how to ask it any better than that. And I'm not trying to attack anyone. I just like, how are we prioritizing these things and proactively dealing with them to avoid crisis situations where we're waiting for paperwork and funding to make sure that kids are safe. Like it just yeah, I think isn't making sense to me.

▶ 36:02 Speaker 7: I think I can explain the timeline.

▶ 36:05 Speaker 6: Um, so when we approved the, um, the funding for the roof evaluation, we initiated, we went out to, um, for proposals.

▶ 36:13 Speaker 5: We hired Gail Architects to do the work. Um, they completed their, uh, their study July 20th, 2023 is the date on their final report.

▶ 36:25 Speaker 5: So that was the Ripley, the, um, Franklin

▶ 36:28 Speaker 6: and the learning commons roof and the skylights. So we were attempting to be proactive. This was long before anything ever fell in.

▶ 36:36 Speaker 5: Um, as soon as we got their report last July, we identified

▶ 36:39 Speaker 6: what we expected that we had the funding for based on their preliminary cost estimates. They were very preliminary, but we had to say, okay, this is the money that we have from an old bond. We had 416,000, we'd asked for another a hundred thousand from for toward the roof. Um, so we knew we had that money and then we knew we had to get this little piece of the Franklin roof done. So we amassed this project, we decided to put it all in one bid package to try to be, um, more economical, um, with the design, the bidding and everything, just having one contractor. So the design phase for any of these projects takes a minimum of six months. That's six months is a pretty quick design because you go through multiple phases. They produce 30%, 90%, a hundred percent, they get cost estimates at each of those milestones. They go back and forth with us as the client. Um, so any sort of building design in a six month timeframe is actually pretty quick.

▶ 37:34 Speaker 7: Um, and that's about the timeframe

▶ 37:36 Speaker 6: that we used for the design. Then we put the project out to bid. Public bidding requires you open, you advertise everything that takes a few weeks, then you open filed sub bids

▶ 37:47 Speaker 5: for all the, the trades

▶ 37:49 Speaker 6: and then you have to give the general contractor another couple weeks to put their bid in incorporating all those trade prices. Um, so we opened bids in May and that was a pretty quick turnaround from July. Having a report to May.

▶ 38:03 Speaker 5: I would say the skylight that fell was probably in

▶ 38:08 Speaker 6: March, April if I don't remember the exact timeframe. But we were already well along our way in designing and bidding this project. Um, when we opened bids in May, we expected to be able to award a contract and order the materials right away. Um, and our hope was that we would be able to install this summer, but with lead times on, on the, um, materials being five, six months and the building being occupied, you know, we only had that one window of time we realized where we didn't get a sub bidder for the skylights and we had to go back and, and negotiate with the contractor. Um, that process took a couple of months, but we realized already at that point there was no way we were gonna make it for this summer. So then we had, you know, a few months to, to work on it, but there's nothing we can do to expedite it faster than next summer short of shutting down this whole section of the school while the work takes place. And that's not feasible with the, with students.

▶ 39:08 Speaker 8: So I guess I will just echo what, uh, counselor, um,

▶ 39:14 Manjula Karamcheti: Hamilton said, and also Mayor Greg, what you lift it up, that we can't wait a year for safety to be put in place. I mean, school has already started. We probably should have done something before school started just in terms of prevention, knowing that it could potentially happen again. So I just wanna echo that sentiment of even using some of the money that we might potentially approve today to do some of that work and then moving forward

▶ 39:43 Speaker 8: once we know more, I guess.

▶ 39:48 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Next, uh, councilor Ro.

▶ 39:52 Cal Finocchiaro: Um, actually you, you asked a question that I was looking for that timeline of, you know, the bid and the, um, the costs that came out of that. Um, so I'm just trying to understand. We signed a contract with Greenwood Yes. Not knowing how or having a con a subcontractor that actually had a cost for the skylights.

▶ 40:14 Speaker 5: So we signed a contract using the allowance price

▶ 40:17 Speaker 6: that the architects had originally, the way the public bidding works, if you don't add of any qualified sub uh, filed sub bidders,

▶ 40:23 Speaker 5: you can carry an allowance and still award the contract,

▶ 40:26 Speaker 6: but then you have to negotiate with the contractor for the final price.

▶ 40:31 Speaker 5: So, but that allowed us, what it allowed us to do.

▶ 40:32 Speaker 6: The reason we signed the contract was because it also included the Franklin work

▶ 40:36 Speaker 5: and the Franklin work has to happen before winter.

▶ 40:39 Speaker 6: And so we had to award the contract, um, and then work with them on the final price.

▶ 40:47 Speaker 6: Um, we did have a subcontractor in that time though, who

▶ 40:49 Speaker 5: provided a price where they could do the work. Um, so we now have

▶ 40:54 Speaker 6: that subcontractor who's planning on doing the work as a sub to Greenwood. So we haven't signed, we'll have to sign a change order for that difference between the allowance

▶ 41:04 Speaker 5: and the final subcontractor price.

▶ 41:07 Speaker 6: Um, and so we haven't signed that.

▶ 41:09 Speaker 5: We can't sign that until we have the approval for the money.

▶ 41:12 Speaker 3: Okay. And, and so do you, your office create, do you create the, the bid documents that go out? So

▶ 41:18 Speaker 6: Gail Architects created the bid documents.

▶ 41:20 Speaker 5: Okay. This is, uh, far more detailed than our in-house capabilities.

▶ 41:25 Speaker 3: Okay. And why do you think there was such a big discrepancy? Just 'cause of timing or,

▶ 41:29 Speaker 5: So part of it is the lack of competition, the fact that no contractors were interested in this particular project.

▶ 41:36 Speaker 6: You know, if you don't have any sub bidders,

▶ 41:38 Speaker 5: then there's no, um, competition for the work.

▶ 41:42 Speaker 6: But the other thing that, that the architects were telling

▶ 41:43 Speaker 5: us the reason why their number was so far off,

▶ 41:44 Speaker 6: I guess several of the manufacturers of this, these types of products, there's typically competition for the actual vendors. Um, but I guess one company has now bought up their competitors and this is a recent development. And so there's not, there aren't choices.

▶ 42:02 Speaker 5: We have, we have a spec that, you know,

▶ 42:06 Speaker 6: dictates a certain type of product

▶ 42:08 Speaker 5: and now there's only really one company making that product. So they can name their price.

▶ 42:12 Speaker 3: So they're Like monopolizing it and Ba basically giving Us a, A price. Yeah. Okay. That was my questions. Thank

▶ 42:20 Speaker 6: You. You're welcome.

▶ 42:21 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you counselor. Uh, I actually would like, go ahead

▶ 42:27 Speaker 10: Madam Chair. I'd like to be able, we have to, uh, gavel into this

▶ 42:31 Speaker 3: Council meeting. So,

▶ 42:31 Maya Jamaleddine: uh, we have, um, I would like to make a motion for recess to go to full council. Um,

▶ 42:40 Speaker 11: I'll make that motion to CFO council.

▶ 42:42 Maya Jamaleddine: So we have, uh, a motion to recess made by counselor, uh, seconded by Vice Chair Williams on discussion, seeing none. We're now recess,

▶ 43:20 Speaker 12: Spin around right for coming.