Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 02.08.2011 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP FEBRUARY 8, 2011 6:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS A Council Workshop was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by President of the Council, Doug Poehls at 6:30 p.m. on February 8, 2011. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Emelie Eaton _x_ Doug Poehls _x_ Kate Hart _x_ Mark Mace _x_ Chuck Rodgers x_ Chuck Dickerson x Tom Nelson x Norm Stamper OTHERS PRESENT: Sam Painter Cathy Gabrian Tim Reiter Public Input (three - minute limit): Citizens may address the Council regarding any item of City business not on the agenda. The duration for an individual speaking under Public Input is limited to three minutes. While all comments are welcome, the Council will not take action on any item not on the agenda. General items: No items to bring forward. Public Works Department: • Resolution — Wastewater Project Chad Hanson, Great West Engineering, gave a presentation at the January 25 Council Workshop and he is here tonight to answer questions, explain where the project is and give Great West's recommendation of where to go from here, on the project. He prepared a task order for the preliminary engineering. Council members were in agreement to put the resolution on the agenda for the February 15 council meeting. Executive Review: • Resolution — FAP contractor selection process Sam said this resolution authorizes the Mayor to sign a contract with High Plains Architect, P.C. He reviewed the contract and removed unnecessary language. This resolution will authorize the City to hire High Plains Architect to assist the City in pursuing an alternate form of construction, which is allowed by state law. • Resolution — FAP alternative form of bid process This resolution defines the alternative process. The Council is asked to describe the process, based on the architect's previous discussion. The important thing is the findings, contained in Sections 1 -2 -3. The alternative process will give the benefit of affordability, speed and reliability. The architect will be working closely with the contractor and this process ensures the project is kept within budget. In addition, this process will allow construction to take place this summer and be completed by fall. The FAP building is a crucial building that cannot be out of commission °for an extended period of time. Council Workshop Minutes of February 8, 2011 The alternative process is the preferred method to get the job done quickly and affordably. Once this resolution is approved, the next step is to work with the architect to prepare a Request for Qualifications (RFQ). This will be published and contractors who believe they are qualified, will submit qualifications to the city. The architect and staff will review them, interview and determine which contractors are most qualified. Selected applicants will be asked to submit a proposal with prices. The most qualified applicant, at the best price, will be selected. Sam said passage of these two resolutions will start the process. Kate said the architect addressed the Budget/Finance Committee previously and they gave a good example of how this process can eliminate miscommunications and keep a project within budget. Mark asked if we have anything in our ordinances that would prevent us from going forward with this procedure. Sam said nothing that he is aware of. Our ordinances follow state law and the city has adopted a procurement policy. State law also allows the alternative method in Title 18. The alternative method can only be used if the council adopts the resolution with requisite findings. One finding is that we are not intending to cut out all competition. We still have competition, but it is limited to qualified contractors. Mark said he feels the process is great for our situation. Tom asked if the council will get the information on the selected contractors at a workshop, prior to voting on it. Sam said a contract for the selected contractor will be brought to the council for final approval with a short staff analysis of each bid. It is then up to the council to debate the findings and recommendations and select a contractor. Sam gave an example of a contractor that had the low bid and everything was in order, except their insurance bid bond. Due to this, they were not selected. It was clarified that this resolution will only be in force for this project. If there is building project in the future, the council can again consider this process, but it will require a resolution addressing the findings. Both resolutions will be on the council agenda for February 15, 2011. Randy Hafer, High Plains Architect, arrived at the meeting. He said this is a really critical process but it works very well. With budgets being an issue, you want a building team at the table while it is designed. You get what you want, there are no surprises and it eliminates change orders. Kate asked if the local contractors are familiar with this process and Randy said they are. Randy delivered our certificate for National Register of Historic Places. His wife attended the Montana Historical Society awards and no one from Laurel was there, so she picked it up for us. • Resolution — AMR contract This is a one year contract with AMR, they will intercept with our ambulance if we need them. They do the billing and pay us $130.00 per intercept. The City previously had a contract with AMR and it lapsed. We have continued to work under the agreement but no resolution was passed. • Council Retreat — February 26th • Council Workshop Minutes of February 8, 2011 The Council Retreat is set for Saturday, February 26 The Mayor will provide more information at the next meeting. • Council Issues: o Asphalt Supply Plant (Norm Stamper) Norm said he noticed activity two weeks ago and asked for an update. We received an e -mail today from Joe Gentri, stating they are making headway on the site. One large tank and several smaller tanks have been demolished. They are working on taking out the bases and concrete. The second large tank should be down within a couple of days. It was stated that the shop structure will stay. o Park Board article for Laurel City Voice (Norm Stamper) Norm said the Park Board is interested in putting an article in the Laurel City Voice. They have two issues. Years ago the City received a donation from Billie Riddle and a committee looked into a new pool and found it was not feasible. The Park Board is now looking into a spray park. It may be feasible to build a spray park but there would be additional maintenance costs. With that and other needs in our city parks, they would like to ask the citizens for a park maintenance district. They would like to get the information out to the public and start getting feedback. The Park Board will be coming forward soon with a Resolution of Intent to look at doing a mail in ballot. They are getting information from the County Election Administrator. Other items - None Review of draft council agenda for February 15, 2011 • Public Hearings: o Ordinance No. 011 -01: An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Laurel, Montana, amending certain portions of the City's zoning code located at Title 17 in the Laurel Municipal Code relating to medical marijuana businesses within the zoning jurisdiction of the Laurel/Yellowstone City /County Planning Board. (First reading 02/01/2011) o Ordinance No. 011 -02: An ordinance amending Title 5 of the Laurel Municipal Code titled "Business licenses and regulations" to allow licensing of medical marijuana businesses. (First reading 02/01/2011) Attendance at the February 15, 2011 council meeting All council members present will attend the meeting. Announcements Mark noticed that PWD was plowing with their new machine and it looks great. They are getting a lot done and he was told it takes about 21/4 hours to do all the park areas. Chuck said the Cemetery Board met last night on the water situation at the cemetery. The pump is bad and needs replaced. The board is looking at quotes and will bring information back to the council. The council workshop adjourned at 6:50 p.m. Council Workshop Minutes of February 8, 2011 Respectfully submitted, Cathy Gabrian Deputy Clerk NOTE: This meeting is open to the public. This meeting is for information and discussion of the Council for the listed workshop agenda items.