AVON FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY RENOVATIONS & ADDITION PROJECT
BUILDING COMMITTEE MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 21, 2011
I. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:28 PM by Chairperson Diane Hornaday in the History Room, Avon Free Public Library. Members present: Chairperson Diane Hornaday, Secretary David Goldsholl, Janet Stokesbury and Scott Boos. Members absent: Diane Carney, J. Tad Kuziak and Barbara Leonard. Also in attendance were Assistant to the Town Manager Steve Bartha, Architect Peter Wells, Director of Public Works Bruce Williams, Library Director Virginia Vocelli and Enterprise Builders Project Engineer Wayne Czarnecki.
II. MINUTES OF PRECEDING MEETING – August 17, 2011
Ms. Stokesbury questioned which “owner” was suggesting an extended warranty for the appliances on page 5. Ms. Hornaday suggested clarifying it to read New England Appliance. Mr. Boos asked if the appliances have been purchased. Ms. Hornaday said yes and that they would store them until we needed them.
VOTE: Ms. Stokesbury motioned and Ms. Hornaday seconded to accept the August 17, 2011 minutes with the change. Mr. Boos and Mr. Goldsholl abstained from the vote as they were not present at the meeting.
III. COMMUNICATION FROM AUDIENCE
None.
IV. COMMUNICATION FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Ms. Hornaday reported that people from the community are continuing to say good things about the project and show interest and have especially asked for the date of opening. Ms. Vocelli said her staff is preparing a slide show of the interior for the upcoming Avon Day on Saturday. Big boards of the floor plan will also be available to see. Ms. Hornaday said that she will also be manning the booth and appreciates having people available to answer questions as well.
V. UPDATE & REPORT FROM: a. Construction Manager, b. Architect
Mr. Czarnecki updated the members on the progress of the project. The outer masonry veneer is basically installed. The well drilling has started for the geothermal system and will be tied into the building. Landscaping will start next week. Irrigation has been installed in select areas. The roof is complete. Ceiling grid and painting is going on the second floor. Floor patch and tiling will go in two weeks and the first floor is following the same pattern. Ms. Hornaday questioned if there were any problems with the recent hurricane. Mr. Czarnecki said CL & P has been tied up bringing in the final power but he reported no leaks. Mr. Boos offered kudos to the workers for a job well done keeping out the excessive weather conditions. Mr. Williams said that his workers checked the library from the storm as well.
Mr. Goldsholl suggested that the construction meeting’s bullet points and target dates be discussed for the next meeting. Mr. Goldsholl was concerned with how lead times and target dates affect the budget and contingency amounts. He wants to avoid those “surprise” moments that could come before the committee. Ms. Hornaday agreed that it’s good to have the library closure times available as well as to answer the resident’s questions. She said too that the Town Council would also benefit with this information as these are the kinds of questions they receive as well. Mr. Williams noted that construction is subject to many things beyond its control such as power being down after the recent storm for instance. Mr. Goldsholl agreed that any number can be affected but that worst and best case
scenarios should be presented. Mr. Williams added that there are a few key things that trigger everything else down the critical path.
Ms. Hornaday asked Mr. Wells what entrance the patrons would be using once the new part of the building is opened. Mr. Wells said the staff entrance. Ms. Hornaday thanked Mr. Czarnecki for his update.
Mr. Wells reported that he continues to meet with the construction team and is pleased with how things are going. The IT and security systems are being installed and are going well. The construction and IT teams are working well together too.
VI. OLD BUSINESS: a. Project Budget Update, b. Approval of Invoices, c. Review & Approval of Change Orders
Mr. Bartha noted changes to the meeting’s budget handout which reflect the current invoices for approval included in the total amounts. This shows that the budget has surpassed 50%, which qualifies the project for the first half of the $1.0 million State Library Grant reimbursement. He said, pending the approval of the invoices from tonight’s meeting, we will be at $4.5 million of the $8.7 million project (roughly 52%). He added that we have used 45% of the contingency amount. Ms. Stokesbury questioned that the temporary utilities line item had been used and did Mr. Bartha have an idea of what the final CL & P cost would be. Mr. Williams did not believe there would be any additional charge for the final energizing. Mr. Czarnecki said there was always a charge for them to come out but that
it wouldn’t be that much. Mr. Williams then said it could be approximately $1,500. Ms. Stokesbury then said it would put us $5,000 - $6,000 over on the temporary utilities line item. Mr. Bartha noted that he’s been tracking contracted amounts compared to the budget but hasn’t reconciled or presented those items yet outside of the contingency where we’ve seen savings. Mr. Goldsholl agreed that there are things out there they the committee may not know about and that it’d be a good idea to show all of these amounts. Mr. Bartha agreed to prepare a budget snapshot to accompany Enterprise’s schedule update at the October meeting.
Ms. Hornaday questioned if the circulation desk fabricator has given a status report. Mr. Wells said they hadn’t produced any yet but that he would email them for an update and there was no reason why they couldn’t start on them now.
Mr. Bartha discussed the invoices for approval. He referred to the IT invoice for $5,700. Wiremen Co. is doing this part of the contract and has submitted an invoice for $6,000 of the $15,000 contracted amount less retainage, leaving a balance of $9,000 worth of work to do for us. He did remark that the IT and FFE invoices will be approved outside of the construction manager as they are part of the town’s. The AT&T invoice ($8,700) had to be paid before they would do the final design work for the placement. He included the AT&T invoices for information but they had to be paid in order to get the work started. Mr. Boos questioned the Wiremen invoice. Mr. Bartha said it was the low bid on the security portion of the IT bid. Ms. Hornaday questioned if the soils and testing would continue throughout the project.
Mr. Wells said yes but it would be minor. Stage II will include some steel testing which will have to be done. Ms. Hornaday corrected that it’d be materials testing now rather than soil. Ms. Hornaday asked for questions. Ms. Stokesbury questioned the new CIRMA invoice Mr. Bartha submitted at the meeting. Mr. Bartha said it was the second quarterly invoice from CIRMA ($1,761.00). Ms. Hornaday asked for a motion to add the invoice to the agenda.
VOTE: Mr. Goldsholl motioned to move the CIRMA second quarterly invoice #LP041084 to the agenda for consideration for payment, Ms. Stokesbury seconded and all agreed. None opposed.
VOTE: Mr. Goldsholl motioned to approve all (Enterprise Builders, Inc. Application and Certificate For Payment dated 8/31/11, $671,687.00, Tuthill & Wells Architects dated 9/16/11, $8,603.00, Wiremen, Inc. dated 8/22/11, $5,700.00, Special Testing Lab dated 8/31/11, $220.00, Szewczak Associates dated 7/28/11, $570.00, Szewczak Associates dated 8/16/11, $237.50, AT&T dated 8/23/11, $189.29, AT&T dated 9/9/11, $6,050.87, AT&T dated 9/9/11, $2,681.09 and CIRMA dated 9/9/11, $1,761.00 totaling $697,699.75) of the invoices as amended for payment, Ms. Stokesbury seconded and all agreed. None opposed.
Mr. Bartha referred to the log prepared by Enterprise as well as photocopies of change orders that have been approved since the last construction meeting and an email Mr. Goldsholl sent asking for a discussion on the status of the contingency. Mr. Bartha explained that some of the items captured in the log have been voided and did not reflect the true amounts. Roughly $45,000 of the $261,439 figure in the PCO log is no longer valid. Mr. Goldsholl explained that he requested a financial recap and not such a detailed one. Mr. Goldsholl continued that he felt the waters were “muddied” by so many figures and changes that he felt it’d be difficult to find where we stood. Mr. Bartha said the $200,305 figure included in his budget report represents items that Mr. Williams has signed off on to date. Ms.
Hornaday questioned if we were still good going into the renovation of the existing building to which Mr. Bartha answered that we still had $247,000 remaining in the contingency. Mr. Williams added that Mr. Bartha still has not shared the balances of the good bids that have come in to date. Mr. Boos questioned if we were finished with the bids and how much were we over or under. Mr. Bartha said we were approximately $70,000 ahead. Mr. Boos asked if that amount could be transferred back to the contingency. Mr. Bartha said that contingency was tracking where we wanted it to and that moving dollars between line-items was not something Accounting wanted to see until the end of the project. Mr. Goldsholl believed that it’d be better to disclose the amounts for transparency to show where bad things had happened and were rectified by good ones. Ms. Hornaday said it’d be better to ask the Town Council for permission to move items than to ask them for more money. Mr.
Goldsholl concurred. Mr. Bartha will prepare a snapshot to show where we are for the next meeting. Ms. Hornaday offered that the BOE is allowed by law to move money to any account they need but wasn’t sure if the Town was allowed to do this. Mr. Bartha said we were also allowed to do this.
Ms. Stokesbury questioned the change order regarding the existing roof sheathing on page 1. She asked if the “condition of the existing attic insulation was to be reviewed and repaired” if this was part of the budget or unexpected. Mr. Williams said it was the areas of the insulation that was taken out when the plywood was removed. Mr. Czarnecki said once the renovation started, an assessment could be made of what was needed. Mr. Boos asked if the plywood replacement was behind us ($38,000 - $39,000). Mr. Czarnecki said that it came in under the $50,000 expected. Mr. Czarnecki included the insulation figure as he does expect some cost to be associated with this when he does this part of the project. Ms. Stokesbury asked him for a figure. Mr. Czarnecki refrained as he doesn’t want to give a figure until
he is more certain. Ms. Stokesbury questioned the second to the last item steel for the door for $8,000. Mr. Williams said that it was in response to the low bidder’s design. Ms. Stokesbury feared using the entire contingency. Mr. Boos responded that it is a part of doing business and the best thing a committee could do was to have a contingency for the unexpected things that come up because they will. He added that we all want the project to come in under budget. Mr. Boos questioned a bond mark-up. Mr. Czarnecki said that it was a mistake and shouldn’t have been on the report.
Ms. Hornaday asked for a vote on the change orders. Mr. Bartha said a vote was not needed as they did not exceed the $10,000 threshold and were for informational purposes.
VII. NEW BUSINESS: Review & Approval of Book Cart Purchase Request
Mr. Bartha referred to a memo prepared by library staff that was included in the agenda packet. Basically, they found a better alternative to the heavy duty carts first selected for a better price and looks. The item that was used to include the book drop and carts was unfortunately used entirely by the book drop. The five book carts are not budgeted anywhere ($774.00) so he recommends adding the carts to the FFE budget as we are $30,000 ahead. Ms. Vocelli explained that Kingsley shows these carts with the book drop and that Ms. Leonard had previously seen these carts used in Colorado. Ms. Vocelli called them and they said they do not use the Kingsley as they are so heavy and expensive and instead use hotel lobby carts. Ms. Leonard was travelling there and saw them and recommended the library get them in lieu of the
Kingsley model. Ms. Stokesbury questioned the durability of the linen material. Ms. Vocelli said the books fall and are piled in the carts by staff and moved. Ms. Vocelli said these carts are lighter and easier to manipulate and taller to hold more items. Mr. Bartha said we could order them online for $774.00 plus shipping or order them from a CT company for $854.00 and have them delivered to the library. Mr. Boos and Ms. Hornaday agreed that from the project’s inception we’ve wanted to buy locally.
VOTE: Mr. Goldsholl motioned, Mr. Boos seconded and all agreed to purchase the library carts (up to $900.00) from the Shelton, CT company. None opposed.
VIII. OTHER BUSINESS: a. Correspondence, i. 8/26/11 Memo to Town Manager
Mr. Bartha included the 8/26/11 memo to the Town Manager for informational purposes. Mr. Wells presented some color samples and a sketch for the members to view. Mr. Wells asked for a color selection for two doors and suggested it match the exterior trim. Members selected a dark brown for the doors. Mr. Wells also showed a problematic exterior area over the walk up book drop where rain water falls poorly off the roof. Mr. Wells suggested a canopy be constructed over the area, shielding the patrons. Ms. Hornaday questioned the look of the roof of the canopy from the open window above. Mr. Goldsholl questioned where the water would go. Mr. Boos said down the columns and onto the grass. Ms. Stokesbury questioned how far the cover would extend. Mr. Wells said five feet. Mr. Boos questioned if the volume of water coming off
the roof would ruin the grass. Mr. Goldsholl felt it would ruin the look of the whole line of the building. Ms. Stokesbury questioned why we didn’t think of this until now. Mr. Wells said that he’d been trying to find a way to resolve it. Mr. Boos questioned when we’d need an answer. Mr. Wells said we’d need a month. Mr. Boos and Ms. Hornaday both said that we need to do something. Ms. Hornaday suggested Mr. Wells send copies of his sketch to the other committee members who are absent to perhaps help to come up with other suggestions.
IX. ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Goldsholl motioned, Mr. Boos seconded and all agreed to adjourn the meeting at 8:35 PM. None opposed.
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Steve Bartha, Staff Person
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David Goldsholl, Secretary
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