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10-07-09 SpecialJ SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Richfield, Minnesota Special Meeting of the City Council October 7, 2009 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Goettel at 5:30 p.m. ROLL CALL Council Members Present: Debbie Goettel, Mayor; Pat Elliott; Fred Wroge; Sue Sandahl; and Tom Fitzhenry. Staff Present: Steven L. Devich, City Manager; Dave Conrads, Building Maintenance Supervisor; Pam Dmytrenko, Assistant to City Manager; and Cheryl Krumholz, Recording Secretary. Item #1 COUNCIL APPROVAL OF AGENDA M/Fitzhenry, S/Sandahl to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5-0. Item #2 DISCUSSION OF FINAL PLANS FOR DESIGN OF NEW POLICE, FIRE & CITY HALL PROJECT AND CONTRACT SPECIFICATIONS OF THE PROJECT Steve Orfield, Orfield & Associates, discussed his proposed City Council design including assessments of acoustics, daylighting, lighting, audio-visual system, and philosophical use of the room. Special Meeting Minutes -2- October 7, 2009 Mike Cox, WOLD Architects, discussed the original room design and adjustments to include the Orfield proposal, including the rear projection room and relocation of the service kitchen. He also discussed cost implications and options for balancing costs. City Manager Devich stated the City Council originally indicated not having a rear projection screen but rather flat screen LCD televisions. City Manager Devich discussed the renegotiation of the Comcast franchise is in approximately two years and the possibility of requesting the Southwest Suburban Cable Commission to include funding to refurbish audio visual capabilities. Jim Farstad, an audio-visual expert, explained several cities are in cable franchise negotiations but cautioned that beginning projections are lower revenue streams with a move toward a state franchise rather than local franchise which increased the risk factors. The formula arrangements are capacities in fiber or custom programming channels, not funding. City Manager Devich stated funding would be sought upfront. He added the City's current cable fund does have a stream of cable franchise fee revenue that could be used on a one-time basis. Council Member Wroge expressed concern that costs would be passed onto Comcast customers. Mayor Goettel clarified the City Council had not agreed on terrazzo flooring but that it would be an alternative in the bid. Mr. Cox cautioned there should be few bid alternates to reduce the confusion for the bidders. Council Member Wroge expressed concern regarding the additional cost for the rear screen projector resulting in proposed changes in room design. Mr. Orfield explained that most of what is proposed is not expensive. Mr. Farstad provided his professional background as a technology consultant. He suggested the City Council consider who and where the audience is during use of the room for more accessibility. He expressed his opinion that the projector was a premium and cautioned the use of the audio-visual dedicated funds on only one room's technology. Council Member Sandahl stated her understanding from previous City Council discussions, of the use of the Police and Fire pension fund to fill in the gap. Council Member Wroge disagreed with Council Member Sandahl's recollection and added the City Council did not vote on this but rather provided direction to staff. City Manager Devich said debt service could be an option on City Hall equipment. He added bids are needed to refine costs and expressed concern that time for the good bidding climate may have passed. Mr. Farstad suggested the City Council also consider the audio-visual technology for the conference rooms which would be used aday-to-day basis. Mike Klass, WOLD Architects, stated the F, F&E covers equipment but the extent has yet to be determined. Special Meeting Minutes -3- October 7, 2009 Mayor Goettel stated she hoped the Chambers was used more not less and include community events. Council Member Wroge agreed with having adequate funds for the audio-visual equipment in the conference rooms. M/Goettel, S/Sandahl to support the proposed design changes made by WOLD Architects to include the Orfield & Associates proposal, including the rear screen projector, for the Council Chambers and move forward with alternate bids on options for reducing scope to balance costs. Council Member Wroge stated the terrazzo flooring alternate bid should include all the associated costs. The City Council agreed. Council Member Sandahl expressed support for the design changes, including the projector, to do the project right and ways to pay for it will be found. Council Member Wroge stated he did not support the changes because the budget needs to be considered, especially with change orders and not spending more even if bids are under budget. Council Member Elliott stated the projector is not needed in the Chambers and the audio- visual technology in the conference rooms is needed. He did support the lighting and acoustical proposal from Orfield & Associates. Mayor Goettel stated the entire layout of the Chambers needs to be considered, not just the projector screen. Council Member Fitzhenry stated he was not comfortable with the projector and the proposed building design changes. Council Member Sandahl suggested the City Council lobby wall could be moved to make the room needed in the Chambers for the projector. Mr. Cox stated the lobby space could lose its character and less park would be visible, which has been a huge,design component. Mr. Orfield said the acoustics could be made to work without the projector screen. Motion failed 2-3. (Wroge, Elliott, Fitzhenry oppose) M/Wroge, S/Goettel to retain the original design of the Council Chambers with no rear screen projection screen but rather LCD televisions, retain original design for lighting and acoustics in the Council Chambers and provide adequate funding for audio-visual technology infrastructure in the conference rooms. Council Member Elliott asked if the original design included skylights and acoustics. Mr. Orfield responded he would need to review the design. Motion carried 5-0. Special Meeting Minutes -4- October 7, 2009 City Manager Devich discussed the federal law regarding payment of prevailing wages in certain public works projects. The new City Hall project is not being funded with federal monies and therefore, does not fall under the provision of the prevailing wage law. City Manager Devich reviewed the pros and cons of cost and benefits with any direction the City may choose to proceed on this matter. Mr. Cox stated that he has found that mostly union contractors will bid but prevailing wage could be a potential issue because it is a high profile project. Council Member Wroge said the maintenance facility was built without prevailing wage so he believed there should be consistency. Council Member Fitzhenry stated he leaned toward non-prevailing wage and hoped who bid the project hired union workers. The City Council consensus was to not use prevailing wage on construction of the new City Hall facility. City Manager Devich reviewed the City Hall project schedule developed to proceed with all necessary steps for the construction. Assistant to the City Manager Dmytrenko discussed parking arrangements during construction. Mr. Orfield asked the City Council to consider placing the rear projector screen above the kitchen in the Chambers, which could be a cost savings. The City Council consensus was to not consider the projector screen. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned by unanimous consent at 7:38 p.m. Date Approved: octoher ~, 2oog Cheryl Krurfiholz ~ ~ / S . De ch Recording Secretary City Manager