Board of Control

CITY OF TALLMADGE BOARD OF CONTROL MEETING MINUTES September 7, 2023 11:30 a.m. Mayor’s Conference Room Members Present: Mayor David Kline, Law Director Megan Raber, Finance Director Mollie Gilbride, Director of Public Service Mike Rorar, President of Council Dennis Loughry Meeting Chaired By: Mayor David G. Kline Minutes: Tish Rowland Item 1: Call to Order and Approval of B.O.C. Minutes for the September 1st meeting: Mayor Kline called the meeting to order at 11:32 a.m. Item 2: Adoption of Minutes: Dennis Loughry moved to adopt the Minutes of the September 1st B.O.C. meeting; seconded by Mollie Gilbride. Vote to approve: 5/0 Item 3: Consideration of a Protest for the awarding of a contract with Northeast Ohio Trenching Services, Inc. for the Howe Road Park Improvements Phase 2. The base bid was $758,200.00. (This is authorized in Ord. 2023-75). Rorar: Cavanaugh had the next bid and protested Northeast Trenching getting the job because they don’t think they have the best bid. The issues were: some forms were not submitted, handwriting in margins of the bid form, Union pricing was too low. I met with Cavanaugh and went over this, and the bids they questioned were not submitted. It’s in our bid document that these issues ‘may’ be cause for rejection, not ‘shall’ be cause for rejection. There is also nothing that states you cannot write or total something in the margin. Lastly, Cavanaugh felt Northeast Trenching was not a good contractor because they’re a trench company, not a park company. We’ve used them in the past and were happy. Brandstetter Carroll, our engineer, completed a similar restroom unit with them in Elyria this year. They used the same units we’ll have and had no issues. Cavanaugh said they’d been thrown out of bids for fewer issues, and I explained we didn’t see this bid getting thrown out based on what they brought to our attention. After talking I feel they understood the situation. Mayor: The writing in the margin was just a total of the items written in pencil, no line item was modified. Raber: The protest was filed within the appropriate time frame. After reviewing, we found the issue about handwriting is not material in nature. With the second issue, both missing pages are not required according to our rules. In fact, bids from all bidders were returned with these forms empty because they don’t come into play until after the contract is awarded. So, this is also immaterial and has no substantial effect on the bid. The last argument is the bid is too low. However, we have occasionally had bids come in lower than the engineer estimates; that’s why we go out to bid. If it ends to our advantage that’s a good thing. And we’re familiar with the company, checked references, and we’ve worked with them before, correct? Rorar: Yes. Raber: Were we happy with the work? Rorar: Yes. Raber: There is nothing to indicate issues with the estimate or their ability to handle this work. We know this through the knowledge we and our engineers have of them, as well as their references. Mayor: Does this require a vote from Board of Control? Raber: Yes, when there’s a protest BOC reviews the findings of the Service Director and either affirms or reverses its previous determination.  We’ve heard from the Service Director, he met with Cavanaugh as required, so a vote can take place. Mayor Kline moved to affirm the vote taken September 1st Item 3 awarding the contract in the amount of $758,200 to Northeast Ohio Trenching as approved in Ord. 2023-75; seconded by Megan Raber. Discussion: Loughry: Do we need to vote to reject the protest? Raber: No, this is the only motion we need. I want to reiterate that after going through the protest and information provided, I feel very comfortable awarding this bid to Northeast Ohio Trenching Services. Rorar: I agree because nothing was altered. Mayor: And the project they did for us was Phase One at Howe Rd Park which came out very nice. Vote to approve: 5/0 Item 4: Consideration and approval of Change Order #1 to Cardinal Asphalt Co., Inc. for a price increase due to additional work that was needed to complete the project. The total increase will be $1,156.00, bringing the new contract price to $643,231.50. The original project was approved by Council in Ord. 2023-1. Rorar: This is for additional pavement; we didn’t have a proper measurement for the double yellow lines. Loughry: Why does BOC meet about $1000 price increase? Gilbride: Because we award contracts at a certain dollar value and we need to account for any changes. Loughry: We don’t build in extra? Gilbride: No, BOC awards the exact amount and if it goes over or under it has to come back. Raber: If that change is more than 10% of the original contract price it goes back to Council. This is the checks and balances procedure. Dennis Loughry moved to approve; seconded by Megan Raber. Vote to approve: 5/0 Item 5: Consideration and approval of Change Order #2 to Cardinal Asphalt Co., Inc. for a price increase due to additional paving that was needed on West Avenue due to a water main break. This also resulted in an increase to the date of completion by 30 days. The total increase will be $47,000.00, bringing the new contract price to $690,231.50. The original project was approved by Council in Ord. 2023-1. Mayor: This was the West Ave water main break that buckled the road. Rorar: Yes. It’s not an emergency because it did adhere, but it probably won’t make it through the winter. Mayor: It’s definitely going to come apart. Mayor Kline moved to approve; seconded by Megan Raber. Discussion: Loughry: When this happens and the vendor is doing additional work, do they give us the same rate as the bid? Rorar: Yes, we make sure of that. Gilbride: That’s the benefit of doing it this way. Vote to approve: 5/0 Item 6: Consideration and approval of Change Order #3 to Cardinal Asphalt Co., Inc. for final reconciliation of the purchase order. The total decrease will be $111,566.70, bringing the new contract price to $578,664.80. The original project was approved by Council in Ord. 2023-1. Rorar: We always over measure our roads except for pavement markings. We go high for a full depth repair because we don’t know the damage until they mill off. The topcoat of asphalt should’ve matched the intermediate, but we estimated high in both those areas. They didn’t perform that work so the money comes back. Raber: Is this the amount including Change Orders #1 and #2? Rorar: Yes. Raber moved to approve; seconded by Gilbride. Discussion: When you have money come back like this are you allowed to do additional work? Rorar: I can’t exceed 10%. We can do alternates, but we didn’t have any here. Loughry: Can you go to Council for a new ordinance? Rorar: We’d have to go back out for bids. Vote to approve: 5/0 Item7: Additional Items Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 11:46 a.m. Board of Control minutes for this meeting electronically distributed September 11, 2023/tf