Public Works & Facilities Commission

PUBLIC WORKS & FACILITIES COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY JANUARY 13, 2021 TIME: 6:30 P.M. Via WebEX.com MIDDLETOWN CONNECTICUT Members Present: Councilman Gene Nocera Councilman Ed McKeon Councilman Philip Pessina Councilman Darnell Ford Members Absent: Councilman Ed Ford Jr Staff Present: William Russo, Director of Public Works Christopher M. Holden, P.E., Deputy Director of Public Works Catherine Lechowicz, Director of Recreation and Community Service Michael Doherty- Milone Macbroom Others: Michael Doherty – Milone and Macbroom Brian Kaye – Milone and Macbroom Gary Schultz –Aquattica Kevin Schaeffer – Aquattica Chris Wante – EDM Paul Pizzo – Landmark Architect Patrick McKenna- 145 Lincoln St Jenn Tentura – Middletown Resident Sigrid Atherton – Middletown Resident Patrick McKenna – Middletown Resident Councilman Nocera opened the Public Works & Facilities Commission meeting at 6:3 P.M. Councilman Nocera requested a motion to approve the minutes dated December 9, 2020. Councilman McKeon made a motion. The motion was seconded by Councilman Pessina and passed unanimously. Councilman Pessina made a motion to amend the agenda by moving up item d. Vets Pool Public Informational Discussion to item a, he also added item e. Recreation Center updates. The motion was seconded by Councilman Ford and passed unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS: Sigrid Atherton- Expressed her excitement of the new Pool and Splash Pad at Veterans Memorial Park. Patrick Mckenna-145 Lincoln St asked that we take into consideration bike parking and electrical car parking. He also expressed his opinion on the plans for the bridge that would connect the North end of town to Newfield St. Jen Tentura- would like the commission to reconsider having a six-lane pool as opposed to having a four-lane pool. She states that the swim team is more likely to not host meets at the Veterans Memorial Pool because of the number of lanes. CORRESPONDENCE: none NEW BUSINESS: a. Vets Pool Public Informational Discussion- An informational presentation for the Veteran Memorial pool was made by Michael Doherty and Brian Kaye from Milone and Macbroom, Kevin Schaefer and Gary Schultz from Aquattica and Chris Wante from EDM. The team introduced the plans for the Splash pad and the zero entry 4-lap pool equipped with a shallow children’s play area, large flex area, and a resistance walk for exercise. b. Public Works & Facilities Commission Meeting Schedule for 2021- Everyone agrees that the dates are fine. Councilman Pessina made a motion. Councilman Ford seconded the motion and passed unanimously. c. Permission for Kim O Rourke to attend Northeast Recycling Council Conference- Councilman Pessina made a motion to approve for Kim O Rourke to attend. Councilman Ford seconded the motion and passed unanimously. d. Update from Tanko Lighting- Toni Leong Senior Project Manager at Tanko lighting has come before the Commission to update everyone on the LED conversation project. The conversation will consist of the standard HPS Cobra Head lights to be changed to LED GE ERLC Cobra Heads. The City of Middletown has about 5000 lights that we are in the process of converting. The project will consist of four phases. Phase one install of Cobra Heads which is about 80 percent complete, phase two procurement and install of the decorative lights which there is about 1000 lights , phase three install of cobra head and decorative lights that currently under ownership review with Eversource. Phase four will be to revisit the lights that were inaccessible at the time of their scheduled conversation. The project time line is from January 2021 until July 2021. Project cost is 1.2 Million for the conversation; the rebate incentive is $ 427,261.00 bringing the project total to $ 815,278.00. The financial analysis based on final design is as follows: one-year analysis savings $395,509.00 and over twenty years it will be $ 8,641,150.00. So far, the City of Middletown has received $245,800.00 in rebates from Eversource. The anticipated amount of rebates from Eversource is $ 427,000.00. e. Recreation Center Update- Paul Pizzo states to the Commission that they are diligently working on phase one of the project. He states that Cathy should be able to utilize the office space by Thanksgiving of 2021. He also states that if we are able to use the building department it would allow for the use of State contract on some of the work, so it will save us money that can be used in the future phases of the project. Paul hopes to go out to bid by July and have the construction start by September of 2021. f. Tree Protection Association Meeting to be attended by Deputy Director Chris Holden. Councilman Pessina made a motion to approve Deputy Director Holden to attend the Tree Protection Association Meeting. Councilman Ford seconded the motion and passed unanimously. OLD BUSINESS: a. Harbor Park Boardwalk Update- Michael Doherty presents to the commission an update on the Harbor Park Boardwalk. He states that Diversity is no longer the lowest bid. The product that they were presenting to use for railing has been rejected. Gerber Construction is currently the lowest bid. b. Multiuse Trail Update- Michael Doherty has come before the Public Works Commission to give an update on the Multiuse trail. A walk through was done by Michael Doherty, Deputy Director Chris Holden and Thomas Nigosanti after the flight phase. The reason for the flight was to cover the whole area once we had a defined route so they can go ahead and digitize just that piece  instead of trying to field survey that entire almost a mile of area, which can be very costly. Further discussion ensued. c. December 2020 Public Works Overtime- the Public Works & Facilities Commission reviewed their monthly reports. There were no questions as the overtime has been at a minimal due to the Covid-19 pandemic. d. December 2020 Building Permits- the Commission reviewed their Building Permits. Building continues to be busy. OTHER: a. December 2020 Monthly Reports- Highway Division- the Public Works & Facilities Commission reviewed their monthly reports for the Highway Division. There were no questions. b. December 2020 Overtime Reports-Parks Division – The Public Works & Facilities Commission reviewed their monthly reports for the Parks Division. There were no questions. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS: As there was no further discussion, a motion was made to end the meeting by Councilman Pessina. The motion was seconded by Councilman Ford and approved unanimously. The Public Works & Facilities Commission meeting adjourned.