Finance Committee

REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE SEPTEMBER 7, 2011 A meeting of the Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 7:05 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Mayor Donnalee Lozeau presided. Members of the Committee present: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane, Vice Chair Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly Alderman Arthur T. Craffey, Jr. Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. Alderman Kathy Vitale Members not in Attendance: Also in Attendance: John Griffin, Chief Financial Officer/Comptroller PUBLIC COMMENT - None COMMUNICATIONS From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Contract Award for On-Line Tutoring Services Requested by Nashua Public Library (Value: $23,500) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO BRAINFUSE IN THE AMOUNT OF $23,500. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ACCOUNT NUMBER 375-45050- 7302-6704 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Deane Has the scope of this service changed from last time? Did they offer services associated with resume writing assistance, job hunting support, and proofreading services? Mayor Lozeau Yes I believe that those items were included the last time. What is different this time is this vendor that they chose this time was a little bit more, but they have unlimited services. Their prior vendor provided about 2,700 sessions and this new vendor that they have chosen is unlimited. Alderman Deane What is the difference in price from last time to this time? Mayor Lozeau Two thousand dollars. Alderman Deane Two thousand? Finance – 09/07/11 Page 2 Mayor Lozeau Yes. Alderman Deane Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Is there further discussion on this item? Alderman Chasse This place is located out of New York. What do they do call into a building in New York with an 800 number or something like that? Mayor Lozeau It is an all online service. Alderman Chasse Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Is there further discussion on this item? It is amazing how much they use it. MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Document Management Software & Services for NGIN (Value: $436,088) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO HYLAND SOFTWARE IN THE AMOUNT OF $436,088. SOURCE OF FUNDING IS ACCOUNT NUMBERS 722-64040-3735 ($202,138) AND 722-53029-3735 ($233,950) ON THE QUESTION Alderman Pressly Thank you. This is a project that started before I became an Alderman and I don’t pretend to know that much about it. It’s highly technical. I guess I’m worried. So many things that I’ve encountered in the almost two years that I have been serving they say oh don’t worry ERP will take care of it, that all of these wonderful things will happen, and from my experience with technological systems is that they promise a lot and it takes a long time if ever that you see the results. I don’t want to pick on you or pick on the project, but I’m hearing excuses given that things aren’t working here or there because they are all trying to get used to this new system. What are your hopes and expectations and timeframe? This has been presented as the best thing since sliced bread that it is going to cure all sorts of things at City Hall. I’m willing to be more patient, but it has been two years and I’m not aware of what good it is doing, and I’m sure it is doing a lot of good. Could you fill me in on what you think this new system is doing for the City? Finance – 09/07/11 Page 3 Mayor Lozeau Right now it is not doing anything other than taxing all of our employees in putting it together. It has not launched yet Alderman Pressly. We don’t have the components yet to launch it. We are working on it. We are building a system, and expect some time probably closer to December to go live with the new system. I don’t know what you feel people have promised that it will do. This will not solve every problem that the City has, this is new financial software. As you may recall from the presentation that I had done for the Finance Committee for the newer members, this relates directly to the financial software because the system that we currently have is a system from the 1970s that there are only 3 people in the United States of America that can actually run the admins system any long, one of them is here. Actually might even be 2. It is a pre-DOS system. If you remember turning on a computer the first time and seeing the little cursor blinking at you, that sort of thing, that is what the current system is. It is a problem; it has to be custom designed. This new system, the ERP system, is something that the State has done some time ago, the City of Manchester did, the City of Concord did; a lot of the different communities have done it. We started the process, actually it started I think before I got here, the discussions around it, what it would look like, and where we could get it. Then the first full year of the project was dedicated to designing the RFP to ask for proposals that would do the different parts of the system. We put together a steering committee early on that included members from the City, members from other municipalities, and members from the private sector. BAE went through this same process; Citizens Bank went through this process. They all came in and participated on the steering committee. Some of our Aldermen participated in it. They recommended different vendors along the way. Now what you are seeing is as we are negotiating the components that get added to the system or are part of the system that is what you see coming through now. The one tonight is the document management system that is a way to help the system pull documents together so that they travel together through the system so if there is a P.O. requested, it will pull and invoice, it will keep everything together. For instance if you say I would like to see all of the P.O.s written for Alec Shoe Store because we buy shoes there, we could pull them all and be able to see all of those, which is not something that the system can do now currently. You will see legislation coming in Tuesday night that talks about some of the changes that we need for the ordinances and things like that to allow this system to go forward. We are planning on doing a little presentation before the meeting. I would encourage you to come to that because we can talk more about what some of those changes are. They actually kind of bring us into the 21st Century. I think we skipped the 20th Century, but I’m not certain. Just our whole way of doing our financial management will change under this system. Right now all of the staff has spent an unbelievable amount of time… Alderman Pressly I would think so. I mean I can’t imagine what it is doing for them to have to be totally re-educated in something like this plus carry on with their regular jobs. Mayor Lozeau A majority of the key staff is actually building the system with the vendors so we did what is called business process mapping so in other words they would sit down with Mr. Gabriel and his staff let’s say and say okay how does the purchasing process work; how do you do procurement, and we go through all of the steps, and then they look at it, okay why do we do that step, we do that step because the administrative process makes us do that but if we didn’t have to we wouldn’t. So in many instances we found efficiencies and there are not Finance – 09/07/11 Page 4 so many steps involved. It is that kind of thing, and we have done that for all of the departments that touch finance and how that works. Alderman Pressly Will we notice a difference when this…you say this goes on line; will we be aware of it or will this all be done in- house just to do their routine work? Is it something that we will, are we going to cut a ribbon? Mayor Lozeau We’re going to announce a Go Live and we will probably do a few demonstrations, but you will see things; we will come in here. For instance Tuesday night the presentation that we will do about the codes that we use for different departments and what those changes might be, what the changes to the Warrant might be so we will come in and talk about that, we will show you this is what you have now; this is what it will look like later… Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau …later in the year I’m hoping to come in and show you some sample components of what the budget is going to look like for FY13, different than FY12. Right now in the city budget book I added pages that describe number of staff and benefits and that sort of thing. This system will actually allow us to attribute them and not make our best estimated guess. You will see in the budget for FY13, we are going to do a single sheet for each division that will say this is how many staff you have. Now during the budget process there is a lot of well how many FTEs do you have, so we got rid of that one, is that a new one, is that a half, that kind of thing. That is going to change under this system. There are some things that will be more noticeable than others. Alderman Pressly Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Alderman Deane Can you explain the $233,950 in training services? Mayor Lozeau They are not training services they are implementation services. That is not just about training, that is about putting the systems in place, getting the software in place… Alderman Deane Okay so can you tell me what the differential is between implementation and training out of that $233,950? Mayor Lozeau I don’t think I could break it out for you, it is all in together, but what we are going to do is the way that Mr. Barker had structured all of these contracts is we try to get to a fixed price so the vendor gives us their best Finance – 09/07/11 Page 5 estimate on what they think it is going to cost for the implementation services. We can get to a solid number on the software, the actual item that we are purchasing, but the ancillary services around that are a bit more of a challenge so they will come in for a planning period once this is awarded and then we will come back and work with them and get a fixed price so that we can keep a better handle on spending. We have done that with a prior contract that we had and we came in and fixed the price and saved a lot of money. I can’t tell you this percentage is training and this percentage isn’t. Alderman Deane So this isn’t really a fixed price contract… Mayor Lozeau Not yet, no. Alderman Deane So we are approving something that is still going to be negotiated after the fact? Mayor Lozeau What you are doing is you are approving something that says we are not going to exceed $436,088. That is … Alderman Deane Is that what was in the motion? Alderman Clemons No. Alderman Deane Pardon me? No? I didn’t think I heard that from you Alderman Clemons. Mayor Lozeau Well the motion says $436,088. If we spend less I didn’t think anybody would object, and that is what the fixed price will do for us. Alderman Deane That is not my point Mayor. When we are approving something at a fixed price; approving this is giving the administration the availability to reduce some of the costs right, but we are giving you the opportunity to spend up to the $436,088 so it is a not to exceed amount, is that what we are doing? So this could come in less is what you are telling us? Mayor Lozeau It could come in less. That was what our experience was on the last one where we did this same thing. Finance – 09/07/11 Page 6 Alderman Deane How much transferring has gone on between these accounts, if any, in the 722? Mayor Lozeau The difference between these accounts, they are just ability for accounting to try to keep buckets that we have attributed different amounts to. Those could change. Alderman Deane How many different buckets are there? Mayor Lozeau I had given out the sheet; we have expense categories and then we have the buckets for licensing, permitting, document management… Alderman Deane Do we have that? Did we get that? Mayor Lozeau You do. I distributed these to you. Alderman Deane When was that? Mayor Lozeau The last time I distributed it, I don’t know, but I… Alderman Deane I probably have it somewhere. Mayor Lozeau …I have an updated one that I can distribute, in case you wanted it. Alderman Deane Okay so there is an updated one? Mayor Lozeau Yes. Finance – 09/07/11 Page 7 Alderman Deane My other question is it states that the vendor’s expenses must comply with the City’s conservative expense guidelines. Is that what is on the last couple of pages here where it says contractor reimbursable expense guidelines? Mayor Lozeau That is correct. As you recall Alderman Deane, one of the things that is asked… Alderman Deane Oh you had these available for tonight. Good. Mayor Lozeau …I did. One of the things that has come up is questions about how do we reimburse them for their expenses. When we were working on this contract we had them print it as part of the contract so that you could see it. That is what is here. We have them follow basically the same guidelines that we do for our employees. Alderman Deane So this, as it is stated here, the City’s conservative expense guidelines…how long has this policy been in place? It says created 8-16-2011. Is that when… Mayor Lozeau No that is because that is when the vendor printed this. Alderman Deane So how long has this been in place? Mayor Lozeau When I came into office I looked at the expense guidelines and when we started looking at contracts that we were going to reimburse vendors, that is when we determined that so probably almost 4 years now. Alderman Deane Okay, and if we look at the 10% so we are allowing them to spend $43,600 or up to that amount I guess. Mayor Lozeau It actually should be 15%. Mr. Barker called my attention to in the memo he put 10% on the back side of the memo. It is five paragraphs up from the bottom on the back sheet where it said vendor expense that should be 15% not 10%. That would be $60,000 they can’t exceed for this kind of expenses. Alderman Deane How much did we budget for all of that? Finance – 09/07/11 Page 8 Mayor Lozeau How much did we budget for their expenses? Alderman Deane Yeah, for plane tickets and cab fare. Mayor Lozeau We cap it at 15%. Alderman Deane Overall what was the estimated amount that was going to be used for the project? Mayor Lozeau I guess I can’t give you that 15% off the top of my head of all of the contracts that have been approved to date, but if you look at the sheet I just gave you, some of those items would include travel expenses and some of them would not. This was an effort to give you some comfort in that it is not a blank check. That was the point of providing this document to you tonight. Alderman Deane So adding the NGIN licensing and document management, are these now two separate programs; the ERP and the NGIN? Mayor Lozeau No. Alderman Deane They are all one, but the NGIN why was that added? The acronym stands for Nashua Government Innovation so the bonded money isn’t going to be split between two different… Mayor Lozeau No that is a way to brand the project in a way that we want people to understand that this is Nashua doing something innovative. Mr. Barker and his crew came up with it. I thought it was pretty creative. Alderman Deane Thank you for the handout. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Alderman Pressly Thank you. So the amount of $7,500,000 is what has been bonded? Finance – 09/07/11 Page 9 Mayor Lozeau What has been authorized to be bonded? We haven’t bonded it all yet. Alderman Pressly Is the figure below that what has been bonded? Mayor Lozeau The figure below, it tells you what has been approved, which amounts. Alderman Pressly So that is the $5,500,000? Mayor Lozeau Right. No, no, no, that breaks it into the categories. The Board of Aldermen approved bonding looked at the last column where it says total, $7.5 million… Alderman Deane Have to go across. $5.5 million of actuals, $1.3 million for licensing, $700,000, $7.5 million… Alderman Pressly I see that. How much has been spent to date? Mayor Lozeau $3.5 million. Alderman Pressly That is what I asked. The figure below it is what has been spent. So we’re about half way there. Mayor Lozeau Right and if you take tonight’s you will add that to it, and then that doesn’t include things that you have like staff and other people internally that are working on the project. Alderman Pressly So you plan to start this in December you say? Mayor Lozeau Well that is what we are shooting for, yes. We had hoped to start a little bit sooner, but we have staff that is putting in an enormous amount of time on this…. Alderman Pressly Oh I would think so. It is a huge learning process. Finance – 09/07/11 Page 10 Mayor Lozeau They haven’t even got to the point of learning it. This is just the staff working with the vendors building it. Alderman Pressly Oh. Mayor Lozeau Then we have the training piece. It is just a huge undertaking. It is not everything we would like it to be in the final analysis, but it is a heck of a ways there, and then this is something we can build on going forward when there are other components that we would like to add. Is there further discussion on this item? Alderman Chasse Is this the end of it for the software? Mayor Lozeau I don’t think it is the end of it for the software. It might be pretty close, but I don’t think it is the end. We will be coming in at the end of this month or early in October with something for timekeeping and scheduling; the really big payroll pieces that we would like to do. Alderman Chasse So this does not include the payroll? Mayor Lozeau Right. This includes some of the payroll that you can do with it, but it doesn’t include the big timekeeping piece, which is really important for us to have, that we can deploy citywide. Alderman Chasse Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Alderman Deane That last piece you mentioned, is that something that is being added to the scope from the original intent of the project? Mayor Lozeau It is being added to the scope… Finance – 09/07/11 Page 11 Alderman Deane That is what I thought. Mayor Lozeau …there are a couple of things that we have added… Alderman Deane Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Is there further discussion on this item? MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Purchase of Bronze Plaques and Mounting Materials Requested by Community Development (Value: $17,745) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO GATE CITY MONUMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $17,745. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ACCOUNT NUMBER 374-7029 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Chasse Bronze plaques; I surely hope they tie them down because with the way the economy is right now and people looking for the nice metals, bronze plaques would definitely be a little pocket change in somebody’s pocket. I don’t know exactly how they are going to tie then down. I looked through all of the specs and everything. Probably have to buy a little dog to protect every one of them, at least the ones that are out in remote areas. Mayor Lozeau Off the beaten path. Alderman Chasse I didn’t see Bronzcraft even put a bid in with us. Mayor Lozeau They didn’t. As a matter of fact we didn’t get any bids and then we made phone calls to different companies like Bronzcraft, Nashua Foundries, and Gate City to ask them to bid on it. We were only successful with Gate City being willing to do something with it. Alderman Chasse Thank you. Finance – 09/07/11 Page 12 Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Mayor Lozeau Is there further discussion? Alderman Deane Maybe people were too embarrassed in this economy to be spending EDI money on something like this. I think this is just a god awful waste of money, I really do. I’m not going to support this. Mayor Lozeau The City has invested in a riverwalk over the years and growing it, and part of the riverwalk is to display the historic things in our city that happened along that riverwalk, and that is what these signs are designed to do. Grant funding was applied for to do it, and I think it is fine. Alderman Chasse So this is grant money? Mayor Lozeau Yes, this is federal grant money that was part of the riverwalk plan that had been applied for a long time ago. We are just making progress as we go now. Alderman Deane Couldn’t the money be used to continue some of the work on the riverwalk? Mayor Lozeau Some of the money can be used for that, and we will be in with another piece of the riverwalk coming in with these similar funds. If you complete the riverwalk you will want to do the whole thing. It is not just a walking path it is a history of our city. Alderman Deane When you complete it then you should put the signs up. Mayor Lozeau We have the funds available now for the signs and they are not certain that will all be there in the end… Alderman Deane So spend it. Okay. Alderman Pressly Since the subject of the riverwalk has come up, is there any plan to trim and prune the vegetation along the riverwalk? I have noticed it is very overrun in many places. Is that part of what they plan to do for it? Finance – 09/07/11 Page 13 Mayor Lozeau I think eventually the riverwalk will be part of the parks maintenance on a more regular basis than it is now. Alderman Pressly Okay. Because it is difficult because a lot of people own the vegetation along there, but they don’t dare cut it because it supports the riverbank. Mayor Lozeau The riverbank is different than the riverwalk. There is vegetation on both sides. There are some places where the vegetation shouldn’t be cut because it helps the banks not to erode and other places there are places where the vegetation is actually impacting the integrity of the riverbank, particularly like if you look across from Margarita’s to the library side where the granite blocks are in and there are trees coming out perpendicular, that is a problem. Other trees are not. Alderman Pressly Okay. I just hope that is on the list that needs to be done. Mayor Lozeau I think we have to look at our riverbanks; particularly determining which vegetation is vegetation we should keep and which vegetation we shouldn’t. Alderman Pressly Right. Oh I know. I think it is a huge thing to deal with for maybe next term. Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Is there further discussion? MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Broad Street Parkway Planning Phase Contract Amendment #4 (Value: $119,540) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AUTHORIZE AMENDMENT NO. 4 TO THE CONTRACT WITH HAYNER/SWANSON, INC. FOR A NET CHANGE AMOUNT OF $119,540. SOURCE OF FUNDING IS ACCOUNT NUMBER 753-3740 ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau What you will be seeing for the next three items is a contract dealing with management of the contract, the next one is the engineering design support, and the third piece is the actual construction. We have broken them into there separate parts instead of one large contract that had it all. Alderman Pressly Thank you. The concern I have is really for all three or for the project as a whole. One thing that I have brought up occasionally when we have had the chance to specifically talk about the Broad Street Parkway is Finance – 09/07/11 Page 14 the railroad and the utility. I know that it is included in the utility category and I have been lead to believe that there has not been any agreement with the railroad yet. This does concern me because I know Pan Am and Gilford are very well known for being difficult to deal with. I would like to have that addressed. I would like to know what the status of that is. I know these are not large sums of money, but it is going to start adding up. Mayor Lozeau I am not aware of there being no agreement that is necessary for the rail. I am not sure… Alderman Pressly Are you sure? I have asked many times… Mayor Lozeau …I’m just not aware of… Alderman Pressly …and they say they are negotiating. Mayor Lozeau Negotiating what? Alderman Pressly I understand that there are some places along the Broad Street Parkway that have to have an agreement with a Gilford/Pan Am Railroad to deal with crossing the railroad. Mayor Lozeau I will be happy to take a look at that, but it has not come to my attention that there is anything that has not been done that needed to be done to do the… Alderman Pressly I would appreciate that… Mayor Lozeau Okay. Alderman Pressly …because I have asked numerous times… Mayor Lozeau I would too, I would be… Finance – 09/07/11 Page 15 Alderman Pressly …and I have been told nothing has been settled, but they are working on it. Okay. I would like to know. I think it is… Mayor Lozeau That might be one of the reasons that we are looking at the bridges separately, but I will find out. Alderman Pressly Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. I should point out there is an error that is carried through on all three sheets so if you want to grab your pens the value dollar amount that is on this first memo says $199,540. It actually should be $119,540 not $199,540. That will change by $80,000, the balance remaining after purchase amount on all three memos. If you would like I could give you what that amount would be. One the first page the account balance remaining would be $66,065,831. Alderman Deane Mayor would that change the amendment total to $119,540 throughout the whole document right? Mayor Lozeau Right yes. Alderman Deane So the motion that Alderman Clemons made was what? Mayor Lozeau He had the correct motion. I was just telling you so that you could correct it on your memo. Is there further discussion on this item? MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Contract Award for Bid Documentation Preparation Relating to the Broad Street Parkway (Value: $52,450) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO HAYNER/SWANSON, INC. IN AN AMOUNT NOT-TO-EXCEED $52,450. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ACCOUNT NUMBER 753-3740 ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau This account balance remaining number on this one should be $66,013,381. Alderman Pressly you frequently ask about the chimney. This one speaks specifically to looking at the documents for the restoration of the chimney, just so you are aware. Finance – 09/07/11 Page 16 Alderman Pressly May I speak to that? Mayor Lozeau Please. Alderman Pressly Along those lines, apparently the letter from the newspaper got lost the last time we discussed it, but there was an interesting article/letter to the editor from Alan Manoian some time ago, and I brought it to the Infrastructure Committee, and he was questioning that the printing on the smokestack was not appropriate to the original smokestack and was questioning that it should not be repainted and that it should be I don’t if removed or just left to wear off, but I think it would be important to make a decision what is going to be done with that. I think in the article he said that was done in the 1950s some time or ‘70s, but it is a fairly recent addition to have the millyard. Mayor Lozeau 1950 is fairly recent? Alderman Pressly Yes given the age of the building. The building is what 150? Mayor Lozeau I see your point. I am aware of his letter. You did mention it. My preference is I like it saying the millyard on it. We have been working with DHR and whatever they require us to do that is what we will do… Alderman Pressly Okay. I don’t have strong feelings… Mayor Lozeau …so if they think it should come down… Alderman Pressly …one way or the other, I just thought… Mayor Lozeau I don’t have strong feelings either, but… Alderman Pressly …it was something that should be decided and quickly because they are planning to do that in the first… Finance – 09/07/11 Page 17 Mayor Lozeau Well actually the first report that we have received on the chimney said that it should come down, that it is not structurally sound so we have gone out and requested a second opinion. There is a little bit of time as we are getting that second opinion… Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau …and then as they do the restoration documents and working with DHR, that is when we will address the issue of painting it, taking it off, letting it wear off. The first part was to paint it on because when we thought we were going to have to take off that first 20’ we thought we were going to lose the M, and that it was just going to say illyard, which would be a problem… Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau …so they were going to repaint the M on. But as luck would have it, we actually got right to the top of the M and didn’t have to deal with that. Alderman Pressly So you have said that the first opinion has come in that it is not…so what are they saying just reconstruct the whole thing? Mayor Lozeau They are saying you should take it down. I know. I feel very strongly I would like to keep it so… Alderman Pressly Oh I do too yeah, that’s… Mayor Lozeau …we are getting a second opinion on it. One of the things they talked about is earthquake and hurricane. Well we just had a heck of a hurricane again that came through, it is still standing…. Alderman Pressly It is still standing. Mayor Lozeau …and we had a little earthquake that came through a few weeks…I didn’t feel it, but… Finance – 09/07/11 Page 18 Alderman Chasse It is only standing because of the paint that is on there to hold … Alderman Pressly Could be. Mayor Lozeau I don’t know. Alderman Chasse Don’t take the paint off because it is coming down. Mayor Lozeau I would be worried about sandblasting or messing with it. Is there further discussion on this item? MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Contract Award for Construction Administration Support Relating to the Broad Street Parkway (Value: $37,300) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO HAYNER/SWANSON, INC. IN AN AMOUNT NOT-TO- EXCEED $37,300. SOURCE OF FUNDING IS ACCOUNT NUMBER 753-3740 ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau This account balance remaining after purchase, this final one, should be $65,976,081. This is the Boiler House demolition in particular that we are looking at here. Is there discussion? Alderman Deane Have any of these tasks been performed on these last three items? Mayor Lozeau Any of the tasks? There are some tasks that have been…you mean by the company that is… Alderman Deane Is being awarded the contract. Have any of these tasks been performed? Mayor Lozeau Some tasks under the very first one, the management, some of that has been ongoing primarily out of courtesy to us because of the administrator’s illness, but the other two no. Finance – 09/07/11 Page 19 Alderman Deane So the work has started. Okay. Mayor Lozeau Well the management has just been ongoing. Alderman Pressly The two issues; the Boiler House and the smokestack, have been, they have been brought up so many times and delayed so many times. Is the Boiler House still planned for September? Mayor Lozeau We just received the bids in for the demolition and there is a recommendation coming forward for a bidder and that should be on our next Finance agenda to approve the bidder for the demolition. Alderman Pressly Okay. I just don’t understand why it has taken so long. Mayor Lozeau Because it is just very complicated. It shares a wall with another building. We had to get permission from that landlord to do certain things. There is asbestos and lead paint that people didn’t expect to find so that takes a special company that can come in and take care of that. We’re one of those places where if it can be complicated this will be where it happens. We keep plugging along. Alderman Deane Has compensation been made for the services rendered in the tasks that were performed in this first contract? Mayor Lozeau No. Alderman Deane So they have done work without being paid? Mayor Lozeau They are being courteous because we have a … Alderman Deane But they have done… Mayor Lozeau Yes… Finance – 09/07/11 Page 20 Alderman Deane …work without being paid. Mayor Lozeau …they have continued their work, yes. Alderman Deane Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Is there further discussion? MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Contract Award for Portable Toilets Requested by Park Recreation Department (Value: $11,590) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND EXTEND THE CONTRACT WITH HANDY HOUSE IN THE AMOUNT OF $11,590. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ACCOUNT NUMBERS 552- 66000-6911 ($10,939) AND 557-59100-6965 ($660) ON THE QUESTION Alderman Chasse Is this rental or is this purchase? Mayor Lozeau This is rental. This is our annual contract with the company for the portable toilets in our parks and in one of our garages. Alderman Chasse Okay. We rent them and they will service them? Mayor Lozeau They service them. They clean them three times a week; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Alderman Chasse Okay. I’ve got to remember that. Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Is there further discussion? MOTION CARRIED Finance – 09/07/11 Page 21 From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Sidewalk Improvements Program Change Order #1 (Value: $56,630) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND, CONTINGENT UPON FINAL PASSAGE OF R-11-140, AUTHORIZE CHANGE ORDER #1 TO THE CONTRACT WITH PICHETTE BROTHERS CONSTRUCTION FOR A NET CHANGE IN THE AMOUNT OF $56,630. SOURCE OF FUNDING IS ACCOUNT NUMBERS 972-5344 ($28,833) AND 653-28 ($27,797) ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau On this document, there is no such thing as a sidewalk contribution, solid waste. That should be southwest quadrant. When the memo was sent over to Mr. Gabriel and he saw SW he thought about it as Solid Waste, the sender thought about it as the Southwest Quadrant. Not to be confused, that is what it should say. You might want to correct that. Alderman Deane I did pick up on that Mayor and I went into my chart of accounts and I could find no account number 972-5344 listed… Mayor Lozeau I could see why. Alderman Deane Is that a fictitious account number? Mayor Lozeau No I don’t believe it is a fictitious account number. It might be the incorrect account number. Alderman Deane The 972, the 72 would be out of Planning right? The 9 is the trust. But there is no such account listed in the chart of accounts that we are given every other week in the Finance Committee e-mail that is sent to everyone to look at the Warrant, the charge card account as well as the chart of accounts to do comparisons is you choose to do so, which I do. This account number isn’t in the chart of accounts. Mayor Lozeau I am sure that is because there was just an error made here. So it should be from the Southwest Quadrant. Alderman Deane What is the account number? Mayor Lozeau I can ask Mr. Griffin to get the account number if he can get that handy. I don’t know if he can get it before we end the meeting, but as long as we are clear on our motion that it will come out of the Southwest Quadrant account… Finance – 09/07/11 Page 22 Alderman Deane I have a question on the Southwest Quadrant account. Mayor Lozeau Okay. Alderman Deane That is contingent upon giving the Board of Public Works the authority over these and consolidating all of the developer contributions? Is that what is happening? Mayor Lozeau No. This, as you will see in your memo, says approval to use these funds is contingent upon the Board of Aldermen approval for the use of the sidewalk quadrant funds. The legislation for that has not been considered by the board yet as you know. Alderman Deane Does the account exist? Mayor Lozeau The Southwest Quadrant Sidewalk account does exist. Alderman Deane Okay. And that work hasn’t been done yet? Mayor Lozeau The sidewalk has not been put in yet no. Alderman Deane But on South Main Street that work has been done except for the paving. Mayor Lozeau Right. Originally this was two parts so we had a company that was coming out and they were laying out the sidewalks and putting in the curb, and then the Streets Department was going to come in and do the asphalt sidewalks. But what happened is with all of the things that have come up this year with sewer collapse and other things; the Street Department was a bit behind. When we got the price from the people doing our sidewalk work, it ended up that this price actually cost less than we could do it, and so that is why we came in for the change order to have them do it instead. Alderman Deane That is Conant Road. Finance – 09/07/11 Page 23 Mayor Lozeau That is both. Alderman Deane That is both? Mayor Lozeau Correct. Alderman Deane So everything on South Main Street has been done but the paving? Mayor Lozeau Correct. Well and then they bumped into the old concrete… Alderman Deane All of the curbing is laid. Mayor Lozeau Right. Alderman Deane So that work has been done. So the concrete has been removed that was in the way, the curbing is in, the processed gravel is in, the asphalt hasn’t been finished yet, but there is a basecoat of asphalt up against the curb, the storm drain on the corner there has been reset and the loaming obviously hasn’t been done because the paving hasn’t been done… Mayor Lozeau But it said that the material has to be removed; the old concrete roadbed and portions of the existing sidewalk were not constructed on proper gravel bedding, this requires additional crushed gravel… Alderman Deane I understand all of that, but the work has been done before the change order was approved right? Mayor Lozeau I don’t know the answer to that. I see it here in the memo. I did not ask them specifically… Alderman Deane When I drive down South Main Street I see a straight shot of curbing all the way down. Finance – 09/07/11 Page 24 Mayor Lozeau I understand that, but I don’t know if there is something on the other side of the curbing that might still need to be removed. Alderman Deane I don’t think that is the case. I think the curbing is out in the street where the concrete was… Mayor Lozeau I know, but… Alderman Deane …so my point is the work has been done before the change order was approved and started and partially completed because all of the curbing is in. Mayor Lozeau The point that I’m making Alderman Deane is if there is some portions of the sidewalk that were not constructed on a proper gravel bedding I don’t know if some of those sidewalks have been removed and the proper bedding put underneath it yet. I don’t know the answer to that. I understand that the concrete from the prior road had to be moved in order to put the granite in, and as far as the process goes on whether we did something that shouldn’t have been done until it came in for the change order, I can’t answer that… Alderman Deane There is processed gravel from one end of that project to the other on the back side of the curb where the sidewalk is going to be. Mayor Lozeau I guess that answers the question. All I am saying is I haven’t been out there and I myself cannot tell you that. Alderman Deane I would like to know whether that has been done or not before we approve the change order. I think when you look at the date of some of this stuff; this was talked about at the Public Works meeting on the 8th of August. Mayor Lozeau So you don’t want to move forward putting the sidewalk in? Alderman Deane That is not my point Mayor. There is a process in which the Finance Committee approves change orders and the change orders shouldn’t be done unless it is an emergency, then you have the authority to come in and say I have approved this and the process is in place… Mayor Lozeau I believe… Finance – 09/07/11 Page 25 Alderman Deane …This was done before we approved the change order that is all. It is not that I am anti-sidewalk or I don’t want to complete the work. There is a process in place. Mayor Lozeau Alderman Deane I am just saying that this work, while it might be described here in the memo, might not have been required for a change order that this change order is about laying the asphalt sidewalk for everything that has been done has been done. I just don’t want to… Alderman Deane I guess we can agree to disagree. Mayor Lozeau And I am sure we can explore it further at the Public Works meeting. I think that we already took this up at Public Works. Alderman Deane They did on the 8th of August. Mayor Lozeau Okay so I don’t recall that discussion coming up then that they had done work that they shouldn’t have done before the change order. Alderman Deane That was on the 8th of August. Mayor Lozeau Okay, but I’m sure it would have come up if there was a problem. Alderman Deane There has been plenty of work done down there since the 8th of August. Today is the 7th of September. It was a month ago. Alderman Vitale When we are getting that account number changed, is that $64,909 related to the Solid Waste account or is that related to the Southwest Quadrant account? Mayor Lozeau That should be related to the Southwest Quadrant yes. Alderman Vitale Okay. Finance – 09/07/11 Page 26 Mayor Lozeau Yes it is. Mr. Griffin do you have the account number? John Griffin On page 273 of the budget book where it outlines the expendable trust funds, the four quadrant account numbers are as follows: 972-5341 for sidewalk construction northeast, 972-5342 is the northwest, 972-5343 is the southeast, and, as noted on the communication, 972-5344 is the sidewalk contribution for the southwest quadrant. Mayor Lozeau So that is the correct account number. John Griffin That is the correct one yes. Mayor Lozeau Thank you. Alderman Deane Are those located in the chart of accounts that we get? John Griffin I would have to check. Alderman Deane I don’t believe they are, but if you could just…the date on that document is 2010. John Griffin Okay. Mayor Lozeau On the chart of accounts document? So it probably hasn’t changed. Alderman Deane Well you can create account numbers and then…my interest is having an updated chart of account that I like to look at anyway. I don’t know if the rest of the committee has an interest in it or not, but if you go and you look at comparisons and go to look at balances like this, and there are others too, this isn’t the only one. Mayor Lozeau We can look at, as Mr. Griffin said, whether it is in the chart of accounts. That is part of what we will be talking about Tuesday night on ERP, what the chart of accounts might look like because all of those numbers are going to change then. Finance – 09/07/11 Page 27 Alderman Deane Even so, the software is only as good as what has been put into it. If you don’t implement any of the data into it like adding account numbers that were created… Mayor Lozeau Well there might be a reason some… Alderman Deane …software can be brand new; it is still going to have the deficiency. Mayor Lozeau This number is in the budget so the account exists. There must be a reason that it is or isn’t in the chart of accounts and we will find that out. John Griffin These particular accounts are the expendable trust accounts. I will just make sure that it is a complete list. Alderman Deane That what? John Griffin We will just make sure it is a complete list. Mayor Lozeau He is saying that is the ETFs. Alderman Deane It shows it in the front. There are other 900 accounts in there. John Griffin Right. Alderman Deane Thank you. Mayor Lozeau Is there further discussion? MOTION CARRIED Finance – 09/07/11 Page 28 From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Refuse Collection Vehicles Change Order #1 (Value: $518,567) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND, CONTINGENT UPON CERF APPROVAL, AUTHORIZE CHANGE ORDER #1 TO THE CONTRACT WITH McNEILUS TRUCK MANUFACTURING FOR A NET CHANGE IN THE AMOUNT OF $518,567. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ACCOUNT NUMBERS 599-68045 ($431,956) AND 373-68045-7207-7002 ($86,611) ON THE QUESTION Mayor Lozeau McNeilus held their price, and we were able to add on these two additional vehicles. I know Alderman Chasse that you like to know how old the vehicles are. The automated truck is 8 years old with almost 72,000 miles on it and the packer is 15 years old with over 53,000 miles on it, just so you know. Alderman Chasse Thank you. Mayor Lozeau You are welcome. Is there further discussion on this item? MOTION CARRIED From: Robert Gabriel, Purchasing Manager Re: Miscellaneous Sewerage Improvements Change Order #1 (Value: $21,000) MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AUTHORIZE CHANGE ORDER #1 TO THE CONTRACT WITH ALBANESE D&S FOR A NET CHANGE IN THE AMOUNT OF $21,000. SOURCE OF FUNDING IS ACCOUNT NUMBER 792-59232-3795 ON THE QUESTION Alderman Deane Has this work already been done? Mayor Lozeau Actually I do believe this work has been done. We were trying to make sure that they got it done as soon as possible with school. Unidentified Speaker Yes it has been done. Mayor Lozeau I think Lake Street is closed up, isn’t it Alderman Chasse? Alderman Chasse This just pertains to the work on Lake Street, nowhere else in the City for the sewer lines? Finance – 09/07/11 Page 29 Mayor Lozeau Correct. I believe so. Yes. But I will give you a heads up that they told me that the think that they are going to bump into it on the work that they are doing on Arlington Street also. Alderman Chasse I was going to give them kudos. Whoever is doing the other sewer work in the City where the sewers are caving in, they are doing an excellent job… Mayor Lozeau They are doing a great job. Alderman Chasse …if it is our city employees that are doing it they are doing a good job. Mayor Lozeau It is a combination, but our city employees are doing a significant amount. Is there further discussion? Alderman Deane Why don’t we follow the ordinances that are in place? Mayor Lozeau I would agree that we should follow the ordinances in place. I don’t know why this work was… Alderman Deane It is wrong. It is wrong. It is policy we set, it is supposed to be followed, and it is not being done. Mayor Lozeau I don’t disagree. When I saw it I asked the question because I drive Lake Street a lot and knew it was closed. It should have come to my attention. Alderman Pressly So the basic issue is that we are being asked to authorize something that has already been done so if we were to say no what would happen, you couldn’t write the check for these people for the work they have already done? Mayor Lozeau That is true. Alderman Pressly So what can be done to encourage people to get them in earlier? Finance – 09/07/11 Page 30 Mayor Lozeau It is not about getting it in earlier, it is about me being aware of it so I can make sure the process is followed. Alderman Pressly Okay. Mayor Lozeau I did have a conversation with staff today about it because I knew of this one in particular. I understood that they were trying to get it done before school and that sort of thing, and I think they just kept plugging along to get it done. I don’t think they thought they would run into a problem. Alderman Chasse I kind of see both sides of the coin because sometimes you have to play the ballgame, you just can’t take your bat and ball and run away. If I have a construction company and I come in and I’m going to do work on Lake Street and I come in and I come into a problem what am I supposed to do take all of my workers and send them home for a month or so until we go through all of this process knowing that I’m going to leave Lake Street in a total mess for another full month or am I going to keep on the process and go through saying I need a change order? Anybody that is in the construction business, and I have some good friends that work at Maple- Leaf and they just don’t hold up projects. We do the same thing for the joint, we don’t tell them no you have to wait for the money because the guys aren’t going to come back to do the work later on down the road. They are going to say the City of Nashua won’t let us and I’m not moving my equipment from Lake Street to Salisbury, MA and then bring it back a month later back to Nashua and then going up into Vermont or whatever. It doesn’t make sense. Sometimes you have to bend and you have to let them do the work and put the change orders in to get the things done. I would have phone call after phone call if we left Lake Street a mess for a month or so. That is not fair to me or not fair to the residents. I understand perfectly well and I can play ball when it comes to that particular situation. Mayor Lozeau I think in this instance Alderman Chasse what should have happened is I should have been made aware of it, I could have authorized it under the emergency provision in the ordinance, everybody could have been notified, and then we could have taken it up at Finance. Alderman Chasse I understand. Mayor Lozeau It just didn’t happen that way. I don’t think anybody meant any malice they were just getting the work done. Alderman Deane I wanted to respond to Alderman Chasse. There is a provision in our ordinances that allows for these emergency change orders. I’m not asking anybody to pick up their stuff and move. I’m not asking people to stop what they are doing. There is a process in place that was put in place for a reason and the process was adopted by this board as an ordinance and it is not being followed. There is a process. It is real simple. It is really simple to follow and it is not being followed on numerous contracts. I just think it sets a precedent. The Mayor and the administration has the opportunity to continue doing what they have to do to get the work going Finance – 09/07/11 Page 31 and get it done to minimize the amount of impact on the area. I’m not looking to impact to slow anybody down; I just think the process should be followed that is all. Alderman Chasse I understand that. I’m not going to argue this with you, but if I am the guy that runs the construction company out there and I don’t know the process; all I would know is I won a bid from the City of Nashua and I know I have a problem so I tell somebody in the City of Nashua that hey we ran into a problem here, but we are going to keep on going. Alright so somebody forgot to tell the Mayor so she could have pulled a big string to keep them going and whatever, but that is something I think the Mayor has a handle on that. Our hands are tied, we really can’t do anything in this Chamber other than say no we are not paying it, but that is still not fair to the construction guy or anybody. I think the ball is back in the Mayor’s court and she has got to follow up and make sure that the ordinances are followed. Mayor Lozeau I do. Alderman Chasse That is my opinion. Mayor Lozeau It is my responsibility and I’m working with the staff. In their defense, it has been a very very busy summer. We have had an unprecedented amount of collapses and projects taking place. We are getting a lot of things done in the City and sometimes the ball is going to get dropped, and at least it is a ball that dropped that was something that I think we would all agree is a project that should have continued. Is there further discussion on this item? MOTION CARRIED UNFINISHED BUSINESS – None NEW BUSINESS – None DISCUSSION Alderman Pressly You mentioned what a busy summer we had. I went out one afternoon trying to do my due diligence as an Alderman and got to one location and saw three big projects taking place. It was really quite exciting. One of course was Stellos Stadium. I happened to be there when they were rolling out the turf, went a little bit further down near the waterway and there was the boat ramp being fixed and I happened to see the thrashing machine enter the water, which was … Mayor Lozeau The harvester. Finance – 09/07/11 Page 32 Alderman Pressly It was a high drama day and I thought wow in twenty minutes to half an hour to see all of these major things taking place, and I drove just a little distance between them. Although I was offered a chestnut and one of the seeds the abusive seeds, they were wet and soggy. But what I did bring back for everybody to see was a sample of the turf. The reason I brought this back, I thought it was really interesting; they had a lot of scraps. Mayor Lozeau That is the new turf. Alderman Pressly This is the new turf. Yes, this is what they were laying down, and I had no idea that the painting, the stripes were actually… Alderman Deane This is the piece missing from the center of the 50 yard line. She went out and cut it out. Alderman Pressly Anyway I though oh what fun. Maybe you all know much more about it than I do but I thought to see the actual stripes are part of the grass. The thing that is also interesting is that the cushion goes in after this goes in, and what they do is they put all of this, they call them what… Alderman Deane Foam rubber. Alderman Pressly They were tiny little balls of rubber that they put in to cushion it, but I thought oh I have to have a sample of this. I would like to pass it around. Rarely do we have a chance to actually touch some of the projects that we are involved in. Mayor Lozeau They gave her that piece. That was a spare. Alderman Pressly There are lots of scraps actually, lots and lots of scraps. They were nice enough. I was going to take a big strip home and he said wouldn’t you like me to cut off a smaller piece of it. They had other colors for parts of it. They had a big section of blue… Mayor Lozeau Because they put the logos on it from the teams… Alderman Pressly The painting on the field it is all part of the grass. It was interesting to see how they put it down… Finance – 09/07/11 Page 33 Mayor Lozeau They did a nice job. Alderman Pressly …It was a very exciting day for me, and to see the thrashed; this thing looks like something out of a comedy or routine when you see this thing on land and then to see it slip into the water. It was fun to see. There aren’t too many times you can bring a sample of what our projects are. Mayor Lozeau Thank you. Is there further discussion? WARRANT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CLEMONS TO APPROVE WARRANT #4 IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $18,267,491.80 OF WHICH $5,223,963.68 ARE ACCOUNTS PAYABLE, $8,452,912.73 ARE PAYROLL AMOUNTS, $266,197.56 ARE PREPAY AMOUNTS AND $4,324,417.83 ARE WIRE TRANSFERS ON THE QUESTION Alderman Deane I have a question; account #701-01340 is that a bonded account? 700 is bond right? Mayor Lozeau Does it say something next to it besides the account number? Alderman Deane No. Mayor Lozeau That is why I am looking forward to the new warrant. Alderman Deane What would that be? Mayor Lozeau Mr. Griffin do you have that information… Alderman Deane The 700 is a bond right? Mayor Lozeau Are you confident with that Mr. Griffin? I don’t want to put you on the spot. I don’t know that he has memorized all of the account numbers yet. Is there a question that goes with that? Finance – 09/07/11 Page 34 Alderman Deane I want to know what that account is. What is it titled? Alderman Pressly While we are waiting for that may I just ask a question? Mayor Lozeau Certainly. Alderman Pressly With all of this new technology will there be any of it that would impact the Board of Aldermen? The reason I ask this, in doing research on how the technology will impact our jobs I have been told that many chambers have setups whereby they have every chair, every elected person would have a laptop and it would be directly connected to the city website and all of the data, and they even have one right up front there. It really sounds pretty wonderful. Apparently it is a resource that means looking at a budget we can all call it up, see it on our own screens, and then have it recorded there so everybody is looking at the same thing. I’m just wondering in part of this technology project, the $7.5 million project, was there anything that people thought of to make our jobs more efficient? Mayor Lozeau Well that is kind of a broad question. I think all of what we’re doing will make your jobs more efficient, but specifically whether or not technology would be in this Chamber, no that money has not been looked at for that, but money that we sometimes use for that sort of thing is the money in the government and education television, which covered the cost of microphones and things like that. We have looked at some of the technology that I would like to see changes up in the auditorium for meetings and things that have presented there. I have asked the I.T. Director to look at some tools for this Chamber that might be a little bit different and he is getting some prices. It is a little far out from where we are now to have those. For instance when we replaced the screen here that was broken, one of the things we talked about was whether we should look at a SmartBoard so those are things that we are talking about… Alderman Pressly Okay. Good. Mayor Lozeau …I don’t know what the end result will be, but it will likely be something that will have to be considered… Alderman Pressly Good. Well I think that would be wonderful. It would be very useful. I know many times; I think it is Alderman Cookson sometimes has a screen and you reference if he could look up something how convenient it would be if the whole group could actually have the computers at their desk and then a major screen in the front so that everybody was watching the same things and could pull up the same research. Finance – 09/07/11 Page 35 Mayor Lozeau Some communities have that. Alderman Pressly And I have been told it is not terribly expensive. I’m hopeful somebody is looking into that. Mayor Lozeau Thank you. Mr. Griffin do you have the answer? John Griffin It is not included in the budget. Mayor Lozeau It is not included in the budget. Can’t answer that question right now Alderman Deane. Do you have a further question? Alderman Deane Thank you. No, I’m going to stop right there. MOTION CARRIED PUBLIC COMMENT - None ADJOURNMENT MOTION BY ALDERMAN CHASSE TO ADJOURN MOTION CARRIED The Finance Committee meeting was adjourned at 8:07 p.m. Alderman-at-Large Ben Clemons Committee Clerk  20110901 NGIN Budget Summary- Fe-Linda Special.xls ACTUAL NGIN EXPENSES BY PROJECT As Of: 9/1/2011 NGIN ERP NGIN Licensing NGIN Document I Expense Category ACTUALS & Permitting Management NGIN TOTAL Consulting and Proj Mgmt $ 439,443 $ 439,443 Capital Assets $ 330,163 $ 330,163 Software $ 869,438 $ 869,438 Implementation Services $ 702,117 $ 702,117 Internal Costs $ 84,768 $ 84,768 Total Expended $ 2,555,929 $ . $ - $ 2,555,929 BOA Approved Bonding $ 5,500,000 $ 1,300,000 $ 700,000 $ 7,500,000 BOA Approved Contracts $ 3,507,045 $ . $ . $ 3,507,045