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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04142009 City Council MinutesCihr gJ'Sewarrl. Alr~shn April 14, 2009 CALL TO ORDER City Cuuncil Mine~zes Vahmne 38, Pnue 61 The April 14, 2009 special meeting of the Seward City Council was called to order at 5:00 p.m. by Mayor Clark Corbridge. OPENING CEREMONY Police Chief Tom Clemons led the pledge of allegiance to the Ilag. ROLL CALL There were present: Clark Corbridge presiding and Mariamta Keil Bob Valdatta Willard Dunham Betsy Kellar Jean Bardarson comprising a quorum of the Council; and Kristin Erchinger, Acting City Manager Jean Lewis, City Clerk Cheryl Brooking, City Attorney (telephonic) ASSENT -Tom Stnith CITIZENS' COMMENTS ON ANY SUB.IECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING David Dieckgraeff, still wanted to see this contract go to the lowest qualified bidder and not a request for proposal. He thought the code should specify who determined the bids and how the points were awarded. He wanted the bidding process looked at. Martin Oberg, stated he was the contractor awarded the RFP on the Japp Creek project and just wanted to introduce himself. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion (Bardarson/Dunham) Approval of Agenda Alotion Passed Unanimous PUBLIC HEARINGS Resolution 2009-023, Authorizing the City Manager to Proceed with The Acquisition of Lots ,,,_ SS and RR of Forest Acres Subdivision in Seward, Alaska, for $75,000, for the North Forest Acres Levee/Road Project, and Appropriating Funds. Caq+ of Setivm•d, ,41as'ka ~ nrrl l4. 2009 Motion (Kell/Bardarson) City Council Minutes Valun~e 38, Page G2 Approve Resolution 2009-023 Acting City Manager Kristin Erchinger stated this was the 2"`' property acquisition of property for the North Forest Acres Subdivision. Thcsc properties, owned by the Baileys, were appraised and came in lower than the Kenai Peninsula Borough assessed value, which was not how the other properties came iu. The city thought it was only fair to offer the asscssed value since the owners had been paying taxes on that value. Both parcels were to he purchased for $75,000. Both parcels were required for permitting purposes. In response to questions, Erchinger stated the ]0% signing bonus was not offered to the owners in this case, since the city was purchasing the property for the assessed value instead ofthe appraised price. The asscssed value was a higher figure than if the city took the appraised value and added a ] 0°/~ signing bonus. Notice of the public hearing being posted rznd published us required bylaw was rioted and the public hearing wets opened. No one appeared to address the Council and the public hearing was closed. Motion Passed NEW BUSINESS Unanimous Resolution 2009-024, Approving A Contract Between The City Of Seward And Peninsula Construction, inc. For The Japp Creek Relocation Project In An Amount Not To Exceed $305,365 Plus A 10% Contingency, And Appropriating Funds. Motion (Bardarson/Dunham) Approve Resolution 2009-024 Erchinger addressed the question that arose during yesterdays meeting about was the cowtcil informed of this RFP and its specific criteria to be used. She informed the clerk's office had researched and found on March 9, 2009 the city manager had notified the council of this RFP for phase I of the Japp Creek project, but did not go into specific criteria details. She summarized the city RFP used: ^ 3/26/09 an RFP was issued and published in three newspapers with packets available. ^ 4/1/09 apre-bid conference was held. ^ Project was explained as the first phase of the North Forest Acres levee road project which involved re-routing 900 feet of creek. Clearing, grubbing vegetation to ensure its protection for later use in the project. Excavate 200 cubic yards of matcria[, and provide a temporary access for equipment to the site. A temporary bridge was required by the permitting agencies to protect the sttn-ounding environment. The construction of a new streambank must be in accordance with requirements laid out in the fish habitat permit. Other requirements were laid out in the fish habitat perntit and the Army Corps of Engineers permit. ^ Copies of both pern~its were provided at the pre-bid conference. The project engineer Bill Nelson was present and described the project and plans. ^ All attendees at the 4/1/09 pre-bid conference were informed this was a request for proposal (RFP) and not a bid, and would be scored on the criteria in the packets. City of Sewm~d, Alaslra Ci p~ Council Minutes `9pr+z l4' 30~~ l~olunrc 38 PaKc 63 • It was sped fically informed of the importance to focus on the criteri a for both the habitat a~ld COE penuits. These stream requirements were described in detail. ^ All questions were responded to in writing to all bidders in the form of an addendur. ^ The criteria was listed in both the addendum and the proposal. • Seven proposals were received. All prices were opened in public and bidders notified. Metco was the lowest bidder. Peninsula Construction was 3`d lowest. ^ The scoring team then met. (Scoring crilerict was presented in writing to council. Erchinger described tlae pages evaluated and explained their ratings atul dre speciftc requirenrerus utul ptrocedrere required by the agencies.) In response to questions, Erchinger stated the contractor awarded must follow specific requirements by the permitting agencies, which was the reason this had to go to a RFP process instead of a strictly low bid process. Two contractors had the specific experience needed for this project. All top three bidders had excellent references, but the top two stood out because of their past experience and abilities to work with the permitting agencies involved with this project. City Attorney Cheryl Brooking appeared telephonically to ar~swerquestions. in response to Mayor Corbridge, Brooking researched and could not find a definitive answer on the questions related to SCC G.10.310(b). In reviewing similar circumstances of competitive procedures, the courts had basically divided it into two categories; material or immaterial. She stated the detailed criteria was provided to al l potential proposers, so she felt the court would look at whether this was material, whether there was substantial compliance, and whether all proposers were treated equally and fairly. Brooking asserted it would be up to the council to decide how substantive the failure to notify council of the specific details of the criteria beforehand was. Keil pointed out if council had the choice given to there as mandatorily stated in the code, council would have had the opportunity to ask for a lowest bid instead of an RFP. Erchinger answered that although it was true council could have asked for this particular RFY to go to a low hid instead, there were still the construction requirements placed on the city by the permitting agencies thatnecessitated an RFP, and reiterated that the construction requirements ofthe fish habitat permit went to all proposers. Valdatta stated it was important to follow the streambank requirements for watersheds and noted any adverse decisions would set back this project another year. Dunham noted the city could lose a year of construction and lose the permits. Corbridge felt tons but noted administration didn't usually get detailed criteria information to the council ahead of time before putting out an RFP. He said the council needed to set policy in these cases and time constraints must be kept in mind. He stressed a wrong decision could jeopardize the permits altogether and not only put the project off for another year. „_ Kellar wanted the council to pay attention to the code and thought the right thing to do was re-do the criteria and bidding. City of Seward, Alaska City Councr~d Minutes April 14 X009 Vohnne 38, Page 64 Dunham admonished that local preference was not a legal reason to reject this bid and cautioned the council on this. He cited previous remarks made by the City Attomcy Cheryl Brooking --~ that local preference was against the law and against the Constitution. He felt the process was done correctly, even Though council felt it was a bit left out of the loop. Keil did not disparage any of the contractors, but advocated for following the code. She felt the RFP could be let again and did not think construction projects should go to RFP. Valdatta thought the council was making a mountain of a molehill He reminded of hard lessons Teamed for accepting low bid. Council recessed at 6:30 p.m. Council resumed at 6:35 p.m. Brooking again appeared telephonically, and answered that bids could be rejected as long as there was a good reason for it. She offered that bidders and proposers may be interested in the reasons because of the time and effort taken to put forth a proposal. She again cautioned that residency of any particular bidder or proposer was not a relevant factor. Keil made a motion to reject this RFP and go to bid because the code was not adhered to. Mayor Corbridge ruled this motion out of order based on not germane and a negative motion. Keil withdrew the motion. Bardarson noted a precedent was set because ofyears ofnon-compliance with the wording in the code. Motion Passed Yes: llunham, Bardarson, Valdatta, Corbridge No: Keil, Kellar COUNCIL COMMENTS Keil wanted the request for proposal procedure clarified for the future. Shc had heard positive comments from the public about both Metco and Peninsula Constmction. Dunham and Bardarson hoped council had learned a lesson. CITIZENS' COMMENTS David Dieckgraeff, stated Marty Oberg was a great contractor. He dill wanted a work session called to sec what other places were doing for bid procedures. He thought the lowest bidder should have the chance to do the project. He noted Metco had ahvays been fair on their prices. Dicckgraeff thanked the council for all their hard work. Tom Gillespie, stated with the time constraints and the circumstances, that he felt council did the right thing. He commented it would all work out. Cit~~ofSewarc! Ala.rkrr aril /4, 2009 Cih~ Council Minutes ~ohnne 38, Page 65 _ Tom Tougas, thought the number one problem for Seward was the declining population and Ule tough task was how to figure out and develop the expertise within the community, to grow the economy and not export our money to Soldotna, He was won-ied where our kids would work and how the city could assist with building the private sector. Tougas reported how declining populations affected the local schools. He wished comlcil could find a way to have local bidders fulfill the contracts and circulate the money within the town. COUNCIL AND AllMINISTRATION RESPONSE 'TO CI'TIZENS' COMMENTS Dunham stated this was a miserable decision to have to make. He felt the permitting agencies had held the city hostage. He reported taking four Crips to Washington D.C., a dozen trips to Anchorage over the years, meeting with the Corps of Engineers, National Marine fisheries, Department of Transportation and Fish & Wildlife agencies. Dunham stated these agencies had made this an absolute miserable project and have caused all this delay. It was time to see the levee put in. Valdatta appreciated the gentlemanship between the two contractors and welcomed Peninsula Construction and their crew to the community. Keil had a family situation herself which was affected by the economy, so she had a lot of empathy for community members in the same situation. Corbridge thanked everyone for what they provided throughout this process. Erchinger apologized on behalf of herself and the administration, since she felt she may have dropped the ball that put council in the box they were in. She agreed with solutions and the need to do everything possible to keep Seward's people employed here. She felt beads could be put together to by and fix process problems. Erchinger stated the city could not have asked for a more superb group of bidders for its project. Corbridge thought the council had ]earned a lot and should be the body giving direction. He was sure a betterjob in that regards, would be done in the future. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m. as eszesegr.~ ~~ C , .lean Lewis, CMC ~ -~~-~~Clark Corbridge Ci>;'y Clerk ~ '~~~vlayor w , w w (City Seal) M~ ~ -. .... .~~ 'O,O