Committee Minutes

MINUTES/PUBLIC SERVICE COMMITTEE
Monday, June 26, 2000 - 7:00 p.m.___________

Members present: Hafner, Klave.

1. Application for moving permit by EAPC for Urban Development to move building from temporary location at intersection of Division Avenue and South 3rd Street to 216 South 3rd Street (commercial building)_________________________________________
Bev Collings, Inspections, reported this building to be moved to 216 S. 3rd Street, next to Juntunen Law Office, City received variance for setback requirements, and building to be leased or sold. Moved by Klave and Hafner to approve application for moving permit subject to the public hearing. Motion carried.

2. Matter of request for quit claim deed following determination and declaration for Lots A and B, Replat of Lot 9, Block 1, University Park Addn. as surplus property (2403 University Avenue)._________________________________________________________
William Wrenn, 2329 University Avenue, stated he has leased this property since 1986 and looking into possibility of buying Lots A and B, these empty lots are next to his property and are 15’ and 19’, but there are easements in the lots (storm sewer) and could never be built on, that he uses as buffer zone between his property and the Nutrition Center- that he maintains lots. It was noted by the committee that if this property declared as surplus would have to be offered for public sale on competitive bid. After further discussion staff asked for written request from Mr. Wrenn and the committee referred the matter to staff for further information. Moved by Klave and Hafner to hold this matter for 2 weeks. Motion carried.

3. Matter of plans and specifications for Wastewater Treatment Plant, Bid Pkg. #5, precast concrete, City Proj. #4371.________________________________________
Casey Hansen, KBM, presented plans and specs. for the precast package which consists primarily of the top portions of the building above the cast in place concrete walls, up to and including the roof panels, most will be double T’s precast concrete, original estimate was $500,000, that insuring the generator is inside brought them to est. of $560,000, that the precast will be about another $90,000, for a total of $650,000. He stated they are also looking at adding a couple more items if convenient to add into this bid package, items that would have to be taken care of whether they do them in this bid package or in one of the remaining four bid packages, that they maybe added as addendum. He stated that the precast portions was very close to original budgeted price. Dollar values on the remaining 4 pkgs. are in the $7 to $10 million range and could get more accurate figures. Todd Feland, public works, stated total construction $26 million and that’s what the SRF loan is going to be asked for; operational in September, 2001. Mr. Hansen stated it may be earlier than that and are hoping to have it sold by September of 2001, but there will be an operations period where the process supplier will be operating the plant and treating wastewater but won’t actually belong to the City at that time. Moved by Klave and Hafner to approve plans and specifications and authorize call for bids. Motion carried.

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4. Matter of change orders for Baling Facility, City Proj. #5086.
Held in committee.

5. Matter of contract award, Airport Booster Pump, City Proj. #5055.
Charlie Vein, Advanced Engineering, stated they have worked with the City and the Airport on an improvement at airport booster station which provides water to the Air Force Base, this improvement would involve putting in a pump system to provide domestic pressure at a higher pressure to work with their sprinkler system that’s on site and some of their automatic flushers that are having problems with the lower pressures - what they are now receiving is basically a city pressure, there is a rise in elevation as going out to the airport, and knew it was going to be marginal in about the 40 psi range when they designed it, the Airport has come back and requested that these improvements be made and they are in agreement in paying for these improvements, and have asked that 50% of the project be paid in 2000 and balance in 2001. He stated they have received quotes from 2 mechanical contractors (that because of the low dollar amount went out for quotes on the mechanical rather than going through the whole cost associated with formal bids - Smith Construction and Lunseth Plumbing & Heating - Lunseth was low and A/E evaluated their bid and recommended award to Lunseth for $6,970.91 (bid from Smith Const. was $9,713.00); and for the electrical which includes motor starters, programming involved with that pumping system in the amount of $30,670.00; and asked for approval. He stated that with the price from Instrument Control Systems, Inc. (ICS) because they were the original installer, can’t go out and get another person to come in and work within their system, were provided a summarized list of how they came up with their pricing, reviewed that and found that to be in order.

Steve Johnson, Airport, reported he spoke with Mr. Schmisek about financing and he indicated that the City wouldn’t have a problem with it. C.Vein stated he didn’t have a chance to discuss this with Mr. Grotte but he was very much aware that it would be a 50-50 split over 2-year period. Mr. Johnson stated the reason they need to do that is because it’s pretty big bite for them and if can split it and budget for the second half next year and absorb it this year.

Moved by Klave and Hafner to approve proposals for process piping improvements to Lunseth Plumbing and Heating Co. for $6,970.91 and control, instrumentation and electrical to ICS for $30,670.00, with funding by the Airport to be split over a 2-year period, contingent upon final approval by the finance department. Motion carried.

6. Matter of specifications and authorization to bid traffic paint.
Dick Newman, street and san. dept., reported this is annually budgeted item, increased amount of white paint by about 200 gal., otherwise same as previous years. Moved by Klave and Hafner to approve plans and specifications and authorize call for bids. Motion carried. (comm. only)

7. Matter of consideration of bids:
a) Baling Facility payloader
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Dick Newman reviewed bids and recommended award of low bid by Krider Equipment in the amount of $138,314.00 plus award of attachments (construction forks, $6,500, multi-purpose bucket, $10,000 and backfill blades, $10,000), for a total of $164,814.00. Moved by Klave and Hafner to approve acceptance of low bid of Krider Equipment.

A rep. of RDO Equipment stated that they bid buy-back purchase on the John Deere, that would give you a net of $108,800 if sending the loader back, they allowed 5 years and up to 10,000 hours. Mr. Newman stated they didn’t stipulate that there was a buy-back in this purchase - they are not sure what condition of the machine will be at end of 5 years, not going to be a landfill machine, but in a baling facility - different working conditions and think may get more than 5 years out of the machine. Upon call for the question the motion carried.

b) Trailers for transporting bales.
Mr. Newman recommended award to low bidder. Moved by Klave and Hafner to accept the low bid of Peterbilt of Fargo in the amount of $60,808.00. Motion carried.

8. Matter of agreement for design engineering services with Ulteig for Proj. 4901, Lighting the English Coulee Bikepath from 6th Ave. N. to Gateway Drive______
Held for 2 weeks.

9. Matter of amended engineering services agreement with KLM for Proj. 5031, Repaint Minnesota Ave. Bridge and Proj. 5160, Water Tower Inspections____________________
Todd Feland, public works, reported that the bridge contract has been approved and it was his understanding that Mr. Swanson reviewed contract and eliminated the limited liability language; that this amends the bridge contract to include inspections of 4 of the older water towers (one in north end, one in south end, Viking and UND) with KLM; that they have included day inspection of each water tower and will get back a report on the condition of the water towers and any future maintenance that they prescribe so that we can budget in CIP process for repairs they have specified. He reported that the inspection fees are $3,300 each for the north and south towers, and $4,100 each for Viking and UND towers, for a total of $14,800.00; and they do specify that if they have to have another day that would be an additional $800.00 and $50.00 fee per gasket for repair. Funding for the project cost would be paid out of Operation & Maint. of the Water Distribution budget - Water Tower Maint. Moved by Klave and Hafner to approve the amended engineering services agreement with KLM. Motion carried.

Mr. Grasser reported that the City had a maintenance agreement with Maguire Iron for a 20-year contract, and that was up about 5 years ago, that they did an annual inspection and towers haven’t been inspected in that time plus Maguire did touch up stuff to keep it maintained; and good to find out if we have to do any significant upgrades structurally, that EPA has been changing some of the regulations on the painting systems allowed in tanks.
He noted that inside of tanks are coal-tar epoxy paint (heavy black paint) and coal-tar is one of the items that’s gotten to be a touchy issue with EPA because coal-tar is petroleum type base to it - have a painting system inside - leg tanks are open tank; pedestal tanks have a tube
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that goes through the middle where can climb through to the top, with patches and ladder inside; others big open shell.

10. Matter of amendments to engineering services agreements for various projects:
a) Amend. No. 5 (additional work) CPS, Proj. 5070 Pump Station 13 Rehabilitation
Mark Lambrecht, CPS, stated that this amendment is related to work at the University Village and L.S. 13 is sanitary lift station located north of Med Science North at UND campus, along 6th Avenue N., that CPS is doing all of the engineering for the improvements in University Village and on lift stations they had WFW working as a sub-consultant for them; that pump station had new pumps to increase its capacity for the Englestad Arena and Barnes/Noble Bookstore, but also was modernized with the latest telemetry, safety improvements, etc., the low bidder for the construction of this project was Hobbs, Inc. who had not done a lift station renovation for the City before so the work the engineer had to do was more than originally anticipated (that construction critical and that lift stations remain in service while improvements made) and WFW encountered the need to work very closely with Hobbs and was somewhat more than anticipated and now being finished up, but construction went very well and now pump station turned on line and is working very well. He stated they are not asking for any mark-up on the costs of WFW on behalf of CPS, but just recover direct costs for the work they did on the project and this amendment requests an increase of $6,000 to the upper limit fee for the project.

There was some discussion as to whether the contractor should be responsible for this. It was noted that this is a discussion they have had on different occasions; that the contractor did fulfill his obligations under the contract in that they completed the work on time and completed work to the satisfaction of the City and in accordance with plans and specifications, but it is more tenuous when you have somebody who has not done this type of work before, esp. in remodeling work, more time was spent on the site working directly with the contractor than would have been spent with some of our other contractors that have done this type of work before. Committee felt this should be considered at award of contract.

Moved by Klave and Hafner to approve Amendment No. 5 in the amount of $6,000.

Jay Bushy stated that the funding for the contract since this project was CDBG is coming
out of the local share of Lift Station 27, Proj. 4983. Mr. Grasser stated that is where we are substituting some CDBG and local funds to give us this flexibility.

Upon call for the question the motion carried.

b) Amend. No. 3 (additional work) WSN, Proj. 4824 Mill and Overlay Streets City Wide
Jeff Langen, WSN, reported they are responsible for this project, there are two contacts: Nodak for $550,000 and increased to $650,000 through a change order, additional CDBG funds were added to that contract; the other contract is with Valley Contracting,
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Phase II, originally about $950,000 and now about $1.050 million. He stated this is unique contract as typically you have quantities and specified parameter of what going to accomplish, and in this project have a specified amount of money that they are trying to target and hit, and when estimated their engineering fees, estimated low, and reviewed communication outlining estimates and scope of work submitted to the engineering department; and in engineering somewhat at the mercy of the contractor as far as how much time you’re going to spend overseeing the project to make sure you’re getting what you want.

Mr. Langen stated that the original claim by Valley was $54,000 based on unusual and unforeseen milling conditions. Mr. Grasser stated that they ran into the claim early on in the process and Mr. Langen has spent a lot of time documenting and has actually done an
excellent job of writing up the City’s position on it, we have denied the claim twice and
contractor is not backing down and at this point in time doesn’t see City backing down,
and it’s a question of site conditions, they feel that the large aggregate and rebar were not to be anticipated and WSN has gone through and documented to his satisfaction where if the contractor had walked the site or looked at the site could see the rebar sticking out of the concrete and see the size of the aggregate ahead of time, and as part of contract documents the contractor is supposed to be familiar with the site. and based on that we’re looking at the denial of the claim. He stated that when start running into these problems the scope of field inspection changes radically. Mr. Langen stated this is occurring in our Phase II contract; and have a similar project in Phase I project with identical field conditions and possibility of another claim from the other contractor, which is a concern of theirs also.

Klave questioned depth of milling and in the event that contractor not meeting specs. and required consultant to spend additional hours to inspect and to make corrections should be assessed back to the contractor. Hafner stated that we should keep track of additional costs. Mr. Grasser stated we are not going to cut back on the project in anticipation of having claim but going to do the full project.

Moved by Klave and Hafner to approve Amendment No. 3 in the amount of $31,190 for construction oversight work and material testing. Motion carried.

11. Matter of Plans and Specifications for various projects:
a) Proj. 5064, Landfill Closure Phase III
Held in committee.

b) Proj. 5156, Dist. 135, Street Lights in Kannowski Addition
Jay Bushy, project engineer, stated that the developer has selected the pole in the
project, est. cost $3,000 per pole compared to normal cost of $500-600/pole. Mr. Grasser stated they gave developer a choice of 2 or 3 different types of poles, that the pole selected meets the criteria engineering set out as far as min. type maintenance (fiberglass pole with concrete footing - tried to stay away from steel because of rusting issue and repainting,
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aluminum gets really expensive).

Moved by Klave and Hafner to pass a resolution approving the plans and specifications for this construction and further that the city auditor be directed to advertise for bids on the project. Motion carried.

c) Proj. 5108, 2000 Traffic Loop Detector Replacement Project
Mr. Bushy reported project est. at $12,000 for repairs of existing loops, and asked for approval of plans and specs. Moved by Klave and Hafner to approve plans and specifications and authorize advertising of the project for bidding. Motion carried.

12. Matter of consideration of construction bids for Proj. 5155, Dist. 134, Street Lights in Rivers Edge Phase II & Proj. 5154, Dist. 133, Street Lights in Country View 1st Addition_________________________________________________________________
Mr. Bushy reported they received two bids, Ron’s Electric, Inc. low bidder and recommended award to low bidder. Moved by Klave and Hafner to accept the low bid of Ron’s Electric, Inc., in the amount of $23,092.21. Motion carried.

13. Matter of Change Order for Proj. 5050, Dist. 19, Bikeway Repairs along the English Coulee from 22nd to 24th Ave. S., C.O. No. 1___________________________________
Mark Lambrecht, CPS, reviewed change order (Valley Contracting, contractor, $9,301.16) for bikepath along English Coulee in Lions Park area (north of Columbia Mall behind homes and apt. buildings along Primrose Court and is location where the willows
were growing through the existing bikepath), that this project had the first $20,000 to be paid out of the City’s Bikeway Maint. Funds and balance of costs from Park Dist.; main substance of change order was additional work that was agreed upon by the Park District and the adjoining property owners with the knowledge that they would pay the additional costs of that work. Other items were sump pump discharge line that needed to be repaired and converted couple culvert crossings to catch basin style crossings, total amount of change order is $9,301.16 and the Park District does concur in this; time extension changed from July 1 to July 16, 2000, and recommended approval.

Moved by Klave and Hafner to approve the change order. Motion carried.

14. Matter of report for Proj. 4717, North End Storm Sewer Study
Mr. Grasser reported this matter was held in committee because didn’t have info re. availability of flow that some of the existing sewers could take, and have several alternatives; that because North Washington Street is being reconstructed looking at possibility to increase some pipe sizes as part of that construction project to relieve some severe flooding problems that occurs in the northend neighborhood due to lack of storm
sewer capacities. Jay Bushy, project engineer, reported they looked at existing systems and concluded that they had some additional capacities to take in some areas from the west (west of Washington) to take care of some of the problem areas noted on 13th . He stated he analyzed the two systems, one runs on 8th Avenue North and other on 7th; that the line on
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7th has a bigger drainage area than the one on 8th, and there are two interconnects
on the system, one at 5th Avenue North and at 7th and 14th, and from that the existing
design both had adequate capacity to take additional areas and determined what flow would overtax the two lines and felt comfortable with taking 75 cfs and bringing in on 8th Ave. N. line at Washington Street; that CPS is under contract with the DOT to reconstruct N. Washington Street and they are redesigning the storm sewer that outfalls at 8th and Washington with pipe sizes ranging from 18 to 36”, and looked at 75 cfs at area near Hugo’s on 13th Avenue North which is one of noted high problem areas of this system that drains to the English Coulee by Valley Contracting. He stated that’s the biggest problem area they have on the line and if upsizing this line and in the future run a lateral line and give that area some additional capacity; also some problems on 12th , looked at 10th where take some additional area just relieves the downstream problems they have at 25th Street.

He stated they were looking for approval to upsize the line which would cost the City an additional $70,000, and right now don’t know what the split will be with the DOT, but looking for approval to go to the DOT and ask, they were receptive to looking to upsize the line to take care of some of those problems.

Mr. Bushy stated that A/E proposed a number of alternatives: their main proposal was to run a trunk line along 10thAvenue, up 20th Street and over to 13th and looked at two storm events, 5-year design and a 2-year design, and cost to run trunk line on 10th to 20th and back on 13th was total project cost of $753,000.

Mr. Grasser stated that he would strongly recommend that we take the opportunity to do upsizing at relatively inexpensive cost, but question of how far we go - that A/E’s best from engineering standpoint but when bring in other factors this bears a lot of looking at. Hafner stated he agrees that A/E’s is best but has serious doubts that the neighborhood is going to buy into that assessment, and if take in smaller pieces and get the worst of the
problems resolved, perhaps the DOT will pick up part of the cost. C.Vein stated this approach provides them with the most flexibility, still come back and do a big part of their design.

Mr. Lambrecht stated that the DOT is their client and they have indicated a willingness to work with the City and to entertain a proposal, and now is the time to make a proposal for the DOT. He noted that one thing that’s going to happen when this big pipe does come in and connect to the old brick sewer at 8th Avenue, there will have to be an underground
vault or something of that type constructed to accomplish that and is pricey item; and that DOT has them under a definite scope of work.

Mr. Grasser stated that the entire system is so grossly undersized that you can’t repair, have to replace it and this would be one alternative. Mr. C.Vein stated that with $500,000 can probably take care of most of those problems in the whole north end area, which is probably about 300 acres. Mr. Grasser stated what he sees here is developing a plan that as they go in and reconstruct streets over time as they need to be reconstructed, to go in
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and take care of the storm sewer as streets redone; will take a number of years. Mr. Grasser stated it would be a good idea to talk to the neighborhood.

Moved by Klave and Hafner to approve report for Alternative 1A and advance to DOT for consideration. Motion carried.

15. Consideration of bids for surplus house at 3104 East Elmwood Drive.
Mike Yavarow, engineer, reported they received acceptable bids on house at 3104 E. Elmwood Drive - received total of 7 bids from 2 individuals with the same last name, that Mr. Warcup advised them to recognize the high bid from each of the high bidders; council awarded to Theodora Blotske at $55,052.00; there was a minimum bid required on this property of $44,000, and this morning received a FAX from Theodora Blotske that she was not going to consummate the deal; Mr. Warcup advised them to recommend award to the
next highest bidder, Robert Blotske, at $47,225.00. He stated that to carry this to the next step - we might assume they might fall out of the picture too and then desire to bid under new bidding rules, which are a $5,000 minimum and Mr. Warcup figured they would be considered a non-responsible bidder because they have failed to live up to arrangements of the bid, and not be given the opportunity to bid on that. Hafner stated the only choice we have is to accept the second bid and stipulate that if they don’t follow through won’t accept any other bids. Mr. Yavarow stated that under the new rules not get close to this bid.

Moved by Klave and Hafner to accept the cancellation of the bid from Theodora Blotske and to award the bid to Robert Blotske at $47.225,000; that in the event second low bidder rejects his bid, both first and second bidders under terms of cancellation of bid be dis-qualified from any future bidding on this parcel of land. Motion carried.

Moved by Klave and Hafner to adjourn; meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Alice Fontaine
City Clerk
Dated: 6/27/00