AVON FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY RENOVATIONS & ADDITION PROJECT
BUILDING COMMITTEE MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 29, 2010
I. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by Chairperson Diane Hornaday in the Avon Room Town Hall Building 1. Members present: Chairperson Diane Hornaday, Secretary David Goldsholl, Barbara Leonard, Diane Carney, Janet Stokesbury and J. Tad Kuziak. Member absent: Scott Boos. Also in attendance were Town Manager Brandon Roberston, Assistant to the Town Manager Steve Bartha, Library Director Virginia Vocelli, Assistant Library Director Donna Miller, Architect Peter Wells, Enterprise Builders Operations Manager Michael McNaboe, Public Works Director Bruce Williams and Hartford Courant staff writer Julie Stagis.
II. MINUTES OF PRECEDING MEETING – JULY 21, 2010
Chairperson Diane Hornaday introduced guests Julie Stagis and Bruce Williams to the committee. She said Ms. Stagis would be attending future meetings on a fairly regular basis and welcomed Mr. Williams’ expertise as Public Works Director.
Ms. Hornaday asked for approval of the minutes of the last meeting. Mr. Goldsholl requested clarification in the State Grant status section of the July 21, 2010 minutes. Mr. Kuziak motioned, Ms. Leonard seconded and all agreed to accept the July 21, 2010 minutes as presented with the changes requested by Mr. Goldsholl. Ms. Carney abstained as she was absent from the meeting.
III. COMMUNICATION FROM AUDIENCE
None.
IV. COMMUNICATION FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Ms. Hornaday reiterated to the members the importance of presenting clear and correct information to the Town Council as was in selecting the architect and construction manager for the project. From this point on, she’d like the committee to be really intentional and make certain we are on task and know what we are doing. Secondly, she said she had asked Mr. Boos to act as the committee’s liaison with the architect and construction manager. Mr. Boos will be attending interviews as our representative. Mr. Wells offered to provide minutes of these meetings so the committee will have all the information in case he omitted any.
V. UPDATE/OVERVIEW
More time is needed to properly review and develop the GMP (Guaranteed Maximum Price) for the project as not all bid responses were received in order to make a good recommendation to the Town Council at their October 7th meeting. Ms. Hornaday suggested scheduling an extra meeting for the 13th as well as the 20th (October) for this review. Mr. Goldsholl asked if this delay would upset the timeline for the project. Mr. McNaboe assured the members that it would be on track.
VI. CONSTRUCTION MANAGER – Discuss preliminary bid results
Mr. McNaboe found the recent bid openings to be favorable to the budget. He added that we did not receive any bids on the roof system, rough carpentry, some insulation and other minor ones. Mr. Wells is developing additional bid addenda to complete those bids in order to obtain a complete GMP number. Mr. Kuziak questioned this lack of bids. Mr. McNaboe explained the complexity of State requirements and paperwork sometimes deters bidders. He feels that next time around with Mr. Wells’ additional effort all the bids will be in. Ms. Carney queried what would we do if we weren’t able to get those contractors to do the work. Mr. Wells expressed confidence that he could ask the selected contractors to include these types of work as part of their larger bids if needed. Mr. McNaboe added that now the selected bidders
will be brought in and interviewed over the next 2-3 weeks. He also feels comfortable that the outgoing bid addenda will secure the missing contractors in order to arrive at the GMP number and subsequently not jeopardize the timeline. He clarified that the bid addenda will only target those items still needed and not the entire package. Interviews will begin next week.
Ms. Hornaday questioned when Mr. McNaboe would have a schedule and budget. He said he’d be meeting with the design team and will try to get it out next week. He wants to make sure he has complete information first. She added that we will review the information with Mr. McNaboe in order to answer questions the residents may have.
Mr. Robertson suggested we skip the meeting on October 13th as we wouldn’t have enough information to discuss then. He wants to make sure everyone has enough time and is well prepared.
VII. REVIEW REVISED LIBRARY BUDGET
Mr. Bartha passed around a handout detailing the project’s current budget compared to the one submitted in October, 2008. The current budget reflects a total of $8.5 million for the project, minus the projected soft costs of $179, 100.00, leaving an estimated balance of $6.8 million for construction and CM fees. Changes from the original budget are primarily seen in moving the library to a temporary site and accompanying rent, renovation and storage costs. Design costs changed slightly. Ms. Stokesbury questioned the change in the total dollar amount originally budgeted at $9.5 million. Mr. Robertson explained the Town Council’s view that $1.0 million dollars in savings had been identified, the grant was awarded and the amount to be bonded would thus reduce to $7.0 million. Ms. Stokesbury suggested that savings
were estimated and not realized as yet and questioned the total cost of the project having to be held to the lower number. Mr. Goldsholl felt that the committee finding savings would portray credibility and that the Town Council took us at our word. He felt this stance would go further and then we’d wait for more information that may show a difference and adjust from there. Ms. Leonard added that the project was originally voted on for $9.5 million. Ms. Hornaday suggested waiting for good numbers from Mr. McNaboe before we act. The goal is to make a quality building using quality materials. Mr. Kuziak agreed that we need good numbers and there is no disagreement that we want to save money for the Town where we could. Ms. Leonard felt it too premature to put the $8.5 million number out there. Ms. Vocelli offered that $50,000 was taken out of the furniture budget in order to meet those numbers. Ms. Hornaday reminded the members that figures will change. Ms. Carney
recollected that savings were found when the award of the grant was in question and that any savings would be beneficial to the Town. She added that it would be difficult to go back to the Town Council and residents.
Ms. Hornaday asked Mr. Wells when the bids would go out for furnishings. Mr. Wells explained that the bid system for the furniture worked better the closer it was to be used as to not hold the bid so long. Mr. Wells said we wouldn’t want the furniture there all at once as the project is to be in two phases. He is hoping to get one bid and two deliveries. The bid should go out no later than four months before we need the furniture. He said a presentation will be made to the committee closer to the time. Ms. Vocelli added that used furniture is presented along with the new. She also said that existing furniture and shelving is to be refurbished and reused as well.
VIII. DESIGN FEATURES AND REGULATORY APPROVALS – Review site plans as approved by PZC, Discuss Status of several design features – 1. Sliding front doors, 2. Community room partition, 3. Walk-up book drop
Mr. Wells relayed that the Planning and Zoning application has been approved. Preliminary documents have been reviewed by the Fire Marshal and Building Official. The basement staircase is egress for people in the basement and will have a gate at the top to prevent people in a panic situation from continuing down the staircase to the basement level. The gate will be easily opened from the basement level. Mr. Wells is holding off applying for the building permit until the prices come in. Ms. Hornaday instructed that the building plans will be available for public view in the building office when they are available.
Mr. Wells said that hinged doors were in the bid. They are low energy, easily handled by children and have lower maintenance cost. Mr. Wells explained that sliding glass doors have to have the glass panels broken out in the event of an emergency loss of electricity and can be burdensome for someone not strong enough to do so. Ms. Vocelli said the hinged doors along with the automatic button currently work very well. Community groups can access the building after hours without any difficulty. Automatic sliding doors can cause more difficulty in disarming alarms to access the building after hours. Ms. Carney interjected that she had conducted a poll among the residents and found a greater preference for the sliding doors in ease of use with armloads of books, strollers or small children. She feels that the residents are
paying for the library and should get what they want and that should be the priority. Mr. Kuziak said we should consider the safety issue first together with energy savings and maintenance costs and the extra cost of the doors themselves. Mr. Williams spoke of the life safety and code issues.
Ms. Miller added that library users have found the hinged door with the automatic handicap button to work very well. Her interest is safety and she feels children and the elderly are in danger if they can’t exit easily. She is concerned with ease of use for community groups using the meeting rooms after hours and the difficulty with the alarm. Ms. Miller also mentioned the excessive cold air the sliding doors allow to enter during the winter months as being a nuisance.
The committee members voted to keep the hinged doors in the design vs. the sliding doors for the safety, cost and maintenance issues. Ms. Hornaday, Mr. Kuziak, Ms. Leonard and Mr. Goldsholl voted in favor. Ms. Carney was opposed. Mr. Boos and Ms. Stokesbury were absent.
The members next discussed the community room partition. Mr. Kuziak discussed the difficulty of projector placement in a room with a partition. Ms. Vocelli contacted several libraries to find out if the partitions were effective and found that the majority were abandoning them because of noise or difficulty of use. Mr. Wells said there is a paint available that mimics a projector screen. Ms. Hornaday reiterated that we went to the residents with added meeting space as a selling point. Ms. Carney does not want to go back to the residents with less meeting space than proposed. Ms. Stokesbury favors added meeting space for the town and hopes the community room partition stays despite projector and noise issues. She says there is a product out there that works to reduce noise. Mr. Wells asked for more time to design a
workable solution to keep the partition. Ms. Hornaday would like to move this issue to the October 20th meeting to give Mr. Wells and the IT consultant time to reach a good solution. Mr. Goldsholl requested a list of available meeting space and usage in town as a means to distinguish actual usage vs. perceived need. Mr. Bartha will look into this further. Ms. Hornaday suggested he ask Glen Marston in the Recreation and Parks Dept. for additional meeting scheduling information.
Committee members discussed the need for the walk-up book drop in conjunction with the drive up book drop. Ms. Miller relayed that library users attempt to use the walk up book drop all day even when the library is open. Ms. Vocelli suggested keeping the walk up book drop to help with overflow. Mr. Wells added that keeping the walk up book drop would add no cost. Ms. Carney would like to eliminate it. She questioned its future use for an RFID inventory system. Mr. Wells said this would not happen as the new location of the drive up book drop does not include basement space underneath it to accommodate the system. Ms. Hornaday has seen heavy use of a walk up at the Hartford Library even though folks could walk into the library and drop the books at the counter. She added that substantial savings could influence her
decision but are not to be realized either way and with that she would like to keep it. Most members concurred.
IX. APPROVAL TO AUTHORIZE SPECIAL INSPECTOR
Mr. Wells recommended that Szewczak Associates be hired to provide special inspection services as required by the State of Connecticut Basic Building Code, Section 1704 of the 2003 International Building Code with the 2005 supplement.
Mr. Goldsholl motioned, Mr. Kuziak seconded and all agreed to hire Szewczak Associates to provide special structural inspections and testing as required by the State per Mr. Wells’ endorsement. All agreed.
X. APPROVAL OF INVOICES Tuthill & Wells - $190,150.00, Enterprise Builders - $10,000.00, Eagle Environmental - $500.00
Mr. Williams confirmed that Mr. Wells brought the updated drawings as requested. Mr. Bartha added that the invoice amount would complete the construction document phase and then we’ll move into the bid and construction part. Mr. Williams recommended payment of the Enterprise invoice as well. Mr. Bartha also recommended payment of the Eagle Environmental invoice as part of the agreement.
Ms. Carney motioned, Ms. Leonard seconded and all agreed to submit the three invoices for payment as presented. None opposed.
XI. OTHER BUSINESS
Ms. Hornaday reminded the members that the next meeting will be Wednesday, October 20th, 7:00 PM in the Avon Room. She hopes to have more information to present to the residents by then.
XII. ADJOURNMENT
Ms. Leonard motioned, Mr. Kuziak seconded and all agreed to adjourn the meeting at 8:40 PM. None opposed.
Recorded by:
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Susan Gatcomb, Staff Person
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David Goldsholl, Secretary
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