The City of Berkeley Lake Official Site : - Full Minutes October 9, 2008 Special Called Council Session

Salter called the meeting to order at 7:32 p.m. at 4040 South Berkeley Lake Road. She noted that all Council members, the City Administrator, Deputy City Administrator, Chair of Architectural Design Committee and two of our advisors were present.

Barbara Carroll introduced Dave Lee, who will be the W. H. Bass, Inc. project manager assigned to the new City Hall and Park project. Mr. Lee noted the following:

W.H. Bass, Inc. has been in business about 25 years, but is relatively small, building about 20-25 jobs at one time. Key clients are Chick-fil-a, small community banks, and clients that come to them through their banking contacts. Their average project size ranges from 1 million to 1.5 million dollars over 4 to 6 months.

Construction has 3 fundamentals: budget, schedule and quality. Typically, customers can’t have all three, but W.H. Bass, Inc. tries to deliver all three. They focus heavily on schedule. They do a lot of work up front, and the superintendent on the site builds the job. They try to build fast, inexpensively and with high quality.

Guthrie asked Mr. Lee to note the difference between how W.H. Bass, Inc. determines their profit versus other similar firms. Mr. Lee replied that cost is based on time, not based on how much the project costs. All projects are based on the number of weeks, averaging between $3,000 and $4,000 a week. W. H. Bass’ fee isbased on how much time they are on-site. Most competitors base their profit as a percentage of the cost of the project.

Lombardi asked if we would pay the bills of the subcontractors. Lee responded that W. H. Bass, Inc. pays all the bills. Lombardi asked if the City could see the original bills. Lee responded that the City can.

Carroll asked whether a performance bond would be something we would be paying. Usually government clients want to be sure that there is a bond.

Sherrill stated that for public work it is important to maintain a performance bond with the contractor to maintain fiduciary responsibility. Lee said that many of their clients, including the City of Ball Ground, didn't get a performance bond.

Guthrie stated that we should ask Carothers if we're required to get a performance bond as the cost for one is $11,499. Rozier committed to doing so.

Spitler asked about the warranty program. Lee stated that the warranty extends one year from the date of certificate of occupancy. Carroll added that W. H. Bass’ references said that this company would come back even if the warranty was expired.

Guthrie noted that the spreadsheet contained estimates, not quotes, and that it is premature to give this budget right now, but because there are decisions that need to be made, the committee has tried to give an idea of where we are with the budget. Anderson mentioned that the numbers contained in the spreadsheet are guesstimates right now and that the committee needs to arrive at a total with itemization, especially when thinking of tradeoffs like the basement. Carroll added that the committee tried to estimate high.

Guthrie noted that the landscaping and playground equipment estimates are the most uncertain numbers because those plans are not complete. On the other hand, the playground equipment can be chosen to be very expensive or not as expensive. Within approximately a week, the committee should have more answers on those items.

Guthrie mentioned that if the basement is to be a possible futurecommunity center, as was suggested at the last council work session, rather than just overflow space for storage, there are additional items that need to be considered like adding windows and having proper access. Guthrie asked Sherrill and Lee to address this.

Sherrill said that there is only a 10-foot floor-to-floor height. Sherrill said that the best case for finished-out floor to ceiling height would be 8.5 feet. Additionally, there will be columns located in the middle of the room, which is not really conducive to a community room. With where we are in the project now, it would be a compromise to have a good, functioning community room. However, the City could effectively accommodate offices and storage at that ceiling height.

Guthrie asked if $77,500 would be an appropriate estimate for the basement to be constructed with windows, additional access and stubbed plumbing for a future community room. Sherrill stated that it would be, but it would be unfinished.

Guthrie noted that we would have a shortage of funds after using all of the 2005 SPLOST and would need to use reserves until we could pay ourselves back with 2009 SPLOST, provided that the 2009 SPLOST passes.

Guthrie asked what was included in the site work/utilities and paving. Lee stated that is everything except the building and utilities within about five feet of the building. Sherrill stated that Lee’s price is based on the civil drawings.

Spitler inquired about the length of validity of quoted prices. Lee stated that prices would usually be honored for about 4 to 5 months.

Spitler also asked about W.H. Bass' own building, which is entirely built out, but is not completely occupied. Lee responded that they built it out to lease it for additional revenue. Spitler noted that Duluth built out a third floor, which isn’t being used at all, but is available for future expansion.

Rozier stated that we are currently faced with having to choose whether to have Bass use a subcontractor to provide MEP Design or have WBA do it and add a layer of architectural engineering to the process. Rozier provided a list of the benefits of architectural lighting.

Lombardi asked if that was part of the original contract. Sherrill said that it was but that was a price that was negotiated out of the original contract. It is common to have MEP done by the contractor.

Spitler asked about reimbursables for the new contract for WBA to the MEP. Sherrill stated that was standard language, but it is essentially for printing and other reimbursable expenses. Sherrill stated that there is a cap on reimbursables in our base agreement. Sherrill indicated that council could put a cap on it. Guthrie asked if the $5,000 cap in the original contract would be sufficient. Sherrill stated that WBA has billed $1,000 of reimbursable expenses so far. The biggest expense is yet to come with the printing of the construction documents. Sherrill does believe that they would still be able to stay within the $5,000 cap.

Spitler motioned to accept the contract for the additional services for MEP design with an adjustment in item b under Section 3, compensation, where that language is reworded to include the additional service fees and reimbursable expenses will be included under the original contract which stipulates a $5,000 cap on reimbursable expenses and authorize the Mayor to sign said contract upon approval of the City Attorney as to form. Anderson seconded the motion. All were in favor. The motion passed.

Anderson stated that there is about 2,800 square feet in the expanded version of the basement. It is a pivotal decision because it costs about $77,000 to do this and requires a change in the construction drawings.

Lombardi asked if there is any reason not to frame it out for windows and doors and just not put those in now. Sherrill stated that he thinks it best and less expensive to go ahead and install windows and doors in the original construction.

Sherrill added that redoing the basement would bear a cost to revise the drawings. It would be another additional services contract.

Kitchens motioned to expand the basement and authorize the Mayor to sign an Additional Services contract with WBA. Anderson seconded the motion.

Carroll stated that the server room is 38 square feet, which was determined to be too small by a consultant in the field. The committee recommends expanding the server room to 93 square feet by taking some area out of the furniture storage area. With the addition of a basement, there will be plenty of additional storage, if needed.

Lombardi motioned to expand the server room per the committee's recommendation. Spitler seconded the motion. All were in favor. The motion passed.

Rozier discussed the potential options. One is to put a modular office on the corner of S. Berkeley Lake and Lakeshore. We would need to rent a portion of the chapel’s parking lot for parking. Another option is to rent Berkeley Walk’s club house, which has a parking lot. A third option is rental of space in Berkeley Village, which may mean that we would have to build out one of the units there. The fourth option is rental of space in Capital Commons. The last option is rental of space outside the city limits.

Kitchens asked Carroll about Berkeley Walk. Carroll said that she thinks there is interest in renting the clubhouse to the city. She described it as a win-win for the city and Berkeley Walk. However, the board has not yet made a decision, but Carroll is expecting to hear a decision soon.

Spitler noted that she is also concerned about having to get a certificate of occupancy for built-out space at Berkeley Village, etc. before proceeding with construction of City Hall.

There was consensus to eliminate Capital Commons, due to location relative to the rest of the city area, and any build-out option.

It was discussed that the quotes we have received will be honored for another 44 days, and they have gone up since July. The quote we have is approximately $129,000. Sherrill stated that all of the City Hall design is based on utilities being buried at this time. If lines are not buried, it does affect the design.

Lee asked how quickly it would be done. Rozier responded that Georgia Power had indicated it would be a minimum of two weeks from the day they receive the check and that if council approves, council needs to approve cutting the checks. There was discussion about the fact that two of the companies don't use contracts for the work and that the city attorney would need to be consulted in that regard.

Kitchens motioned to bury the utilities at a cost not to exceed $129,000 and to authorize the Mayor to sign a contract with AT&T once Carothers has approved the contract and cutting the checks for the others. Lombardi seconded. All were in favor. The motion passed.

There was consensus of council not to install a deceleration lane on South Berkeley Lake Road approaching the new driveway into the City Hall parking lot from the direction of Bush Road.

Anderson indicated that BLHA believes that Lake Berkeley is a state waterway and that we, as an adjacent owner, have the right to access the water and pipe it over here. The only thing they may have concern about is the placement of the pipe.

Anderson asked if we want to get cost estimates for boring to access lake water. We would need two lines under the road, a water line and a power line to feed the pump.

Salter asked for council consensus to approve of using water from Lake Berkeley to irrigate City Hall landscaping. There was consensus. The committee is to obtain estimates.

Carroll noted that the committee is looking to a December 6th groundbreaking ceremony. The committee would like to send a flyer about the new City Hall and Park with a ‘save the date’ mention and would run seek approval of the verbiage from Council before mailing it.

There being no further business to discuss, Lombardi motioned to adjourn. Kitchens seconded the motion. All were in favor. The motion passed.