June 26, 2007
The Board of Commissioners of the City of Lawrence met in regular session at 6:35 p.m., in the City Commission Chambers in City Hall with Mayor Hack presiding and members Amyx, Dever, Chestnut and Highberger present.
RECOGNITION/PROCLAMATION/PRESENTATION:
With Commission approval Mayor Hack recognized the VFW Firefighter of the Year Award.
CONSENT AGENDA
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Chestnut, to approve City Commission meeting minutes from June 12, 2007. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Chestnut, to approve the Mechanical Board of Appeals meeting minutes of May 14, 2007; and the Uniform Building Code Board of Appeals meeting minutes of May 31, 2007. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Chestnut, to approve claims to 558 vendors in the amount of $1,761,390.46 and payroll from June 10, 2007 to June 23, 2007, in the amount of $1,798,461.13. Motion carried unanimously.
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Chestnut, to concur with the recommendation of the Mayor and reappoint Rex Buchanan to the ECO2 Commission to an additional term that expires June 30, 2011. Motion carried unanimously.
The City Commission reviewed the bids for 2007 Overlay and Curb Repair Program, Phase 2, for the Public Works Department. The bids were:
BIDDER BID AMOUNT
Engineer’s Estimate $1,233,297.25
LRM Industries, Inc. $1,110,652.60
R.D. Johnson Excavating $1,114,466.95
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Chestnut, to award the bid to LRM Industries, in the amount of $1,110,652.60. Motion carried unanimously.
(1)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Chestnut, to authorize the Administrative Services Department to renew coverage provided by Emergency Services Insurance Program (ESIP) for emergency vehicles, general liability, management liability, and portable equipment for the Fire/Medical Department for the period July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008 for an estimated premium of $75,572; renew coverage provided by Affiliated FM for the City’s building/property coverage for the period of July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008 for an estimated annual premium of $125,227. Motion carried unanimously. (2)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Chestnut, to authorize the City Manager to negotiate a contract with Kansas Engineering for instrumentation and control engineering services (to include HMI and PLC programming, revision of existing HIM and PLC programming standards, control panel design and documentation and training of city staff) in support of the City supplied supervisory control and data acquisition system as part of the Clinton Water Treatment Plant Phase II Expansion. Motion carried unanimously. (3)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Chestnut, to set bid date of July 24th, 2007 for the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program at 956 Lawrence Ave., 1100 Highland Drive and 224 East 17th Terrace. Motion carried unanimously. (4)
Ordinance No. 8098, providing for the adoption of the “Development Code of the City of Lawrence, Kansas, June 12, 2007 Edition” incorporating by reference said amendments, codifying the code in “The Code of the City of Lawrence, Kansas 2006 Edition” Chapter 20, and repealing the existing sections, was read a second time. As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Chestnut, to adopt the ordinance. Aye: Amyx, Dever, Chestnut, Hack, and Highberger. Nay: None. Motion carried unanimously. (5)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Chestnut, to receive annexation request for approximately 142 acres generally located north of the Kansas Turnpike, and east and west of North 7th Street. Motion carried unanimously. (6)
As part of the consent agenda, it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Chestnut, to authorize the Mayor to sign Subordination Agreements for the following: Catherine McNish, 1002 Home Circle; Ivan and Gloria Ray, 1001 Home Circle. Motion carried unanimously. (7)
CITY MANAGER’S REPORT:
During the City Manager’s Report, David Corliss said Parks and Recreation hosted the 2007 Summer Playground Hershey Track Meet at Southwest Junior High.
He said he wanted to recognize the efforts of Toni Wheeler and Scott Miller, Staff Attorneys for their successful defense of the City’s smoking ordinance before the Kansas Supreme Court which made national news, but it was no news that the City was well represented.
Also, Chuck Soules, Public Works, updated the Commission on the Kasold Drive project and the improvements to the east lanes of Kasold. He said City staff and the contractor wanted this to be a great project, and they felt confident it would last for a long time.
Commissioner Amyx asked about the guarantee of the road once it was completed and signed off on.
Soules said if defective workmanship or materials were found, staff could ask that it be repaired or replaced.
Mayor Hack echoed Corliss’ thanks and appreciation to Wheeler and Miller for their successful work on defending the City’s smoking ordinance.
REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS:
Consider adopting Vision Statement as recommended by the Community Commission on Homelessness.
Shirley Martin Smith, Community Commission on Homelessness, presented the Vision Statement as recommended by the Community Commission on Homelessness. She said their group had come a long way in a very short period of time and was proud of the group and their work. She said the statement was a very simple document, but the document took longer than anticipated because a number of issues needed to be taken into consideration.
Commissioner Highberger said he appreciated the group’s work in the vision statement and the statement provided a clear framework for moving forward.
Mayor Hack called for public comment.
Hilda Enoch, Lawrence, said she thought it was an excellent vision and she had sat in on several of the Community Commission on Homelessness meetings and this was a group that had been very dedicated over a long period of time and had worked very hard to produce this document. She said she would like to talk about the people who were waiting for fruition of this vision because the vision was important and exactly what would really help; not a big box where people were warehoused, but steps along the way to provide housing for people in the community and be able to contribute to the community.
She asked where were this was going from this point. She said they could not just have a vision and had to bring that vision to fulfillment and she was not real sure the Homeless Commission planned on being the people that would follow through. She was not sure the City Commission was committing to that effort and would be stuck with a very beautiful vision, but if it was not implemented and if it went on the shelf, then the City Commission was letting a number of people who were in desperate straights down and that should not be done. Moreover, funding needed to be discussed and it sounded that no one had committed to how this vision would be funded. She understood this was an entire community effort, but leadership was needed. She said for instance, if all of the people that needed to have a stake in bringing this vision into reality were called together and if there were that Commission, either the Community Commission on Homelessness or the City Commission, that took hold of that vision and offered the leadership needed, then she could see this was just a milestone along the way and they were going right ahead. She said if that was not happening, the vision statement would simply sit there. She said she wanted to be reassured that some group, not some nebulous “yes, it was going to happen group”, but there was a commitment made to get the homeless people off the street and with the support services needed so it could be felt the homeless were on their way to becoming productive citizens. Many of the homeless, through the shelters and the superb work in the most overcrowded spaces were already on their way and showed it could be done and was a reality, but could not be done without commitment, leadership, and funding.
She said she also wanted to speak about the budget because the budget had something to do with priorities and the City could not construct an ice rink if there were people without any place to go. She said they had to look at what were the priorities that this community could be proud of. She said in her mind, if they had people wandering desperately around the community with no one feeling it was their responsibility, then they would not achieve the kind of the community that she had been proud of. She said it was back in the City Commission’s hands unless they found a way to bring it all together.
Shirley Martin Smith, Lawrence, said their group talked about this issue in a study session and realized that in some ways it was hard for people to get their arms around how they would move forward. She said she could assure everyone the Community Commission on Homeless Services was very confident about how they were going to do this. They were not oblivious to the hours and commitment it was going to take. They knew they had to do the outreach to make this happen and they were committed to it. Some of the City Commissioners and some of the members of the community outreach team were committed to doing outreach to rotary clubs, churches, neighborhood associations, and to everyone because everyone had an interest in this vision and it was a broad group of homeless population they were talking about. She wanted to give assurance that their group knew full well that they had a lot of work to do and the leadership came from those who were already committed to make this happen and from five sitting Commissioners as this vision unfolded it would take commitment because those who already contacted about the article in the paper and what they heard in the news, they were very positive about what they heard and one person even commented to her that they now knew where they would send their money. She thought people were feeling good and it was a framework they could get their arms around.
She said in terms of the question of funding, it was a vision and not a program. She thought they had to be very clear on that. The task force recommendations they started with would be delivered under this housing vision which meant they would have to collaborate with the county, with other funding sources and look at the current city funding and how it was spent. She said if there was a commitment to implementing the housing vision, then they had to look at what they were spending right now and spend it in the best possible way they could. Those had been very challenging discussions at their meetings, but they had them and if they were going to help the homeless, they would have to make tough choices. They have agreed that they would be available to work with Commissioner Amyx because that was what the Mayor asked him to work on. They were ready to sit down and talk about all those things simultaneously because they believed so strongly this was the direction they needed to go. She said there were people like Enoch who spent 20 years advocating for this issue and understood Enoch’s passion, but their group had the same passion, but now they had a vision on how they believed they would make it happen. She thought that was what the excitement was about among the Commissioners who worked on this issue and the people who had been contacting their group. They were already invited to speak to groups and knew they were headed in the right direction. She said it was doable for this community and not out of reach.
Commissioner Amyx thanked Martin-Smith for the work that she and others had done on this vision statement. He believed they needed to set up an organization that was going to incorporate the Community Commission on Homelessness and others throughout the community. He said this City Commission would not be able to carry out the vision because they had a lot of other issues to deal with. He said he was never big on setting up organizations, but this organization was important enough. This vision did exactly what was discussed about addressing Enoch’s concerns about placing people in homes.
He said he respectfully disagreed with Commissioner Highberger’s suggestion of placing money in the budget this year for this effort because the entire program needed to be looked at. He said trying to find ways to spend money to help the most people should be the Commission’s goal every time they made a decision on spending public money. He said a lot of those agencies that were funded now would continue to be funded. He said they had approximately one year to make sure there was a program in place that would take care of many future needs.
Martin-Smith said she agreed and it would take a good year of very hard work to get everything in place.
Commissioner Amyx said a few years ago the City Commission was presented with an extensive plan, but when he saw the price tag, he almost fell out of his chair. Now, through this vision statement they could incorporate ideas from the task force and bring individuals from the private side who wanted to help with the housing situation in helping people in need and make those commitments so they were not constantly looking at ways to fill a void.
Enoch said if the City Commission did not take the leadership and at least offer some funding for this effort, then everyone else would feel the same way. She said this was a now issue and the homeless had been on the streets for too long and commitment was needed now. She said Martin-Smith was talking about going before the County, but the County would not put in money if the City did not.
Mayor Hack said Enoch was asking for 100% City Commission support behind this vision. She said in her estimation, absent the vision, putting money to the homeless as an entity was too broad, complex, complicated, and was not sure it was an outcome based situation. Any of the funding the City put in or any other organization was going to expect an outcome. Without the vision, they would not take a step forward.
Martin-Smith said without the vision, the citizens could not step forward and help. The citizens need to know what was planned for their money, food, or a roof over someone’s head. It had to make sense and the greater picture needed to be focused on. It was too early to know the funding that would be needed because they were counting on private giving. The City and County could not do it all, but the citizens could help make it happen. She said they would have a funding picture a year from now because they had to.
Mayor Hack said the Community Commission on Homelessness had put together a framework so a variety of groups could come to the table and help. She said this needed to be a community effort, not just a City Commission effort. With this framework, people had something to hold onto.
Martin-Smith said it was important to have five votes in support of this vision so when working with the County, they had a vision that everyone wanted to partner. She said the City Commission’s 100% support for moving this vision forward was critical to its success a year from now.
Vice Mayor Dever said it was important to identify where the money the City was currently spending was going in one big picture for everyone to see how much the City was currently contributing and down the road, put that money in once place with help from other sources.
Martin Smith said that was why she referenced her commitment to work with Commissioner Amyx because they both knew they were going to do that and it helped to have that framework to base any recommendations to current funding.
Commissioner Highberger said he would respectfully disagree with Martin-Smith. He said he would agree with Vice Mayor Dever and Commissioner Amyx on making sure the City was spending those monies the proper way. He said he really thought they needed to acknowledge the Community Commission’s on Homelessness’ work and set aside money in a reserve fund this budget year to put their money where their mouth was. He said his vision was achieving a large privately funded operation, but it seemed this effort would require a major capital expenditure and some of that would need to be public money. The City should at least make a gesture, this year, by setting aside a reserve fund which would make it easier to do everything that needed to be done in future years.
Mayor Hack said the City Commission would have an opportunity as they go through the budget process to wrestle with that issue.
Commissioner Chestnut said he was excited about this mainly because he agreed with Martin-Smith’s comments. He said the survey really put a face to the issue which he thought for a lot of people in this community was vague. There were some fantastic articles that came out in the late fall that gave people appreciation of who the people in the community were of the most need. He said it was the key to start giving people a vision on what they were trying to support and create that attitude of compassion as a community was needed. He said he was excited and knew that people could share that passion and give an infectious desire to really serve the people in this community and that was where they needed to start. He said if that happened, he did not think that resources would be an issue.
Moved by Chestnut, seconded by Dever, to adopt the Vision Statement as recommended by the Community Commission on Homelessness. Motion carried unanimously.
(9)
Receive staff recommendations to authorize the City Manager to negotiate design-build contracts relating to the Wakarusa Water Reclamation Facility.
David Corliss, City Manager, presented the staff report. He said last Monday, City staff was joined by Vice Mayor Dever and Commissioner Amyx in interviewing the firms that responded to the request for qualifications for the two packages of design/build projects. He said the one package was the conveyance system for sanitary sewer to the new Wakarusa Water Reclamation Facility and the second package was the construction of that facility along with the Four Seasons Pump Station project. They listened to presentations by the various firms and talked about the recommendations they would make to the full Commission. He said the staff memo provided the recommendations for the conveyance system where staff was recommending the design/build team of CAS Construction and PEC Engineering Services. He said for the design/build contract for the facilities construction to the design/build team of Black and Veatch and Grim Construction.
He said if the City Commission was satisfied with the direction that staff was proceeding, staff would negotiate contracts separately with those firms. That contract would be to prepare a guaranteed maximum price they would then be developing. He said in the memorandum they were emphasizing a number of key items and they wanted transparency in the bidding and quoting process and would achieve that through the weeks to come when looking at the various quotes. Staff also wanted to maximize local participation in the design work and the teams that would be involved in the sub contracts for the design but also in the construction work as well.
He said he needed to throw in an addendum to what he had stated in that there might be a separate guaranteed maximum price contract for the Wakarusa facility which could be referred to as the dirt work and would be a substantial project putting in the dirt for the Wakarusa Water Reclamation Facility itself.
He said there were a number of virtues that staff saw in the design/build process and staff briefed the previous Commission on why staff thought it had merit for this project which was: 1) Allowed staff to ensure maximum local participation from a number of subcontractors in the project; 2) Allowed staff to look at those quotes in depth to see exactly what the City was getting in various parts of the project; 3) Assured at the higher level of quality control because staff was involved along with the engineering firm to make sure the City was getting the best product available; 4) Assured timely completion of this project; and 5) Be part of the project through the actual solicitation of the sub parts of the projects to ensure it met the City’s needs.
He said staff would be paying particular attention to the timing of the project and sizing of the project. They were not going to rush the project unnecessarily and were not going to oversize the project unnecessarily as well. They were going to right size and right time the project to ensure they had the right product in the right time frame.
There would be comments about how large of a facility was needed, given the fact that the local economy has been slowing down a bit. He said this facility was not really for this decade, but for the decades to come. He said staff thought it was appropriate to correctly size the facility and make sure the facility was there for the growth they felt the community would experience and some of the industrial usage which bought up some of the growth components as well.
He said one of the other comments they heard was if they were trying to right size the project for a community and really a region that might not be growing as much as it has in the past and why did they need it at a certain increment and staff would be asking those questions. He said those projects could not be built in small enough increments to satisfy some of those concerns, but had to do it in a way that made sense.
He said this project was a significant undertaking for the community and one of the largest public works, civil engineering project this community had experienced to date and needed to devote appropriate staff attention to any number of the details of the project.
Commissioner Amyx said the previous City Commission and the current City Commission made decisions to move ahead with a new treatment facility and improvements to Four Seasons. He said when the City received all the documents and all the paper work and the project was completed, if anyone questioned whether or not the City was given the best value for their dollar on this project, would staff have all that information available.
Corliss said it would have to be absolute transparency and understanding of those documents. There would be a flood of documentation on this project as the City received the bids on everything from couplings to concrete to any number of different items. He said staff was committed toward organizing that information not only so staff could understand it and he could approve it, but the City Commission would have the confidence level that right decisions had been made as they approved the rates to support these projects, but also the rate payers had that confidence as well. He said staff was going to insist on that level of transparency and understanding on the documents so everyone could see how those dollar amounts were created and there would not be line items that were simply not understood.
Commissioner Amyx said in looking at those two projects, it was the City Commission goal to make sure that as many local contractors could participate in this project because this was a community project. He said a year ago when the City had the microburst, he saw how close it came to seriously damaging the east facility which the City was taking great chances. He said in going through this process, he wanted everyone to understand that what was being provided was the best value to the rate payers in this community.
Commissioner Chestnut said this project was a huge undertaking, but was a vision for building infrastructure. He said they talked about building infrastructure in what they thought was anticipated of the community. He said at a 1.5% to 2.5% population growth, the City was about 80% in this capacity in 20 years. He said it seemed like a leap, but needed to realize they were talking about decades versus talking about years. He said he discussed with staff the incremental part of this project and unfortunately it was not a place to be incremental because it was a massive step up that needed to be done in a community, once every quarter of a century to do the things that needed to be done in the community. He said this project capacity would be spread out over a quarter of a century.
He said he knew there would be a lot of hard work to be done and staff would be taking on a volume of work that would be massive. He appreciated the work and looked forward to a great project.
Commissioner Dever said it was also the commercial and industrial aspect the Commission wanted to add to the community. Part of the vision was to grow the tax base, not necessarily on the backs of the residents, but on some industry. He thought people overlooked the concept that if they did not have this capacity 5-10 years from now, they would not be able to service any major industrial plants.
He said what was completely overlooked was technology and the fact that standards changed, pollution limits change, the ability to discharge into rivers changed and those changes needed to be anticipated in putting in place technology that allowed to attain lower levels, do a better job in protecting the environment, and reducing pollution. He said the redundancy factor was important especially when there were emergencies, technology that broke or was old. He said this was a step towards allowing people to know Lawrence was interested in growing, servicing its citizens, and welcoming new business. He said he was excited about being able to serve the community better through this project.
Mayor Hack said the City had good staff working on this project in-house and staff was working with great companies who committed to working with as many local people as they possibly could and it was a great combination. She said it appeared that Lawrence was a dynamic community and was forward looking. She said this plant was an expandable plant and would serve the City’s needs as the City grew.
Mayor Hack called for public comment.
After receiving no public comment, it was moved by Amyx, seconded by Hack, to authorize the City Manager to negotiate a design-build contract with the design-build team of CAS Construction/Professional Engineering Consultants for the Preliminary Design and submission of a Guaranteed Maximum Price for the construction of the conveyance system to the new 7.0 MGD BNR Wakarusa Water Reclamation Facility (WWRF) including associated upstream collection system infrastructure and improvements in accordance with the recommendations in the 2003 Wastewater Master Plan. Motion carried unanimously. (10)
Moved by Amyx, seconded by Hack, to Authorize the City Manager to negotiate a design-build contract with the design-build team of Black & Veatch/Grimm Construction for the Preliminary Design and submission of a Guaranteed Maximum Price for the construction of the new 7.0 MGD BNR Wakarusa Water Reclamation Facility (WWRF) and improvements to the Four Seasons Pump Station and Excess Flow Storage Facility in accordance with the recommendations in the 2003 Wastewater Master Plan. (11)
Linnell Stanhope, CAS Construction, said they took this commitment to the City very seriously. She heard a lot of their concerns and they were committed to making the price right. She said as Commissioner Amyx said in that it was not just providing the City with value, but providing the City with value that could be justified to the community so there were no questions and the City did everything it needed to do. The local involvement was very important to their company and the entities in the City that become a part of this project had the City Commission to thank because the Commission made it very clear in conversations that it was important and if it was important to Commission, it became very important to them.
PUBLIC COMMENT: None (12)
COMMISSION ITEMS:
Commissioner Amyx said he wanted staff feedback on the Bio Science project. (13)
REGULAR AGENDA (cont’d):
Consider motion to recess into executive session for approximately 60 minutes for the purpose of discussing possible acquisition of real estate. The justification is to keep possible terms and conditions of a possible acquisition confidential at this time. The regular meeting will resume in the Commission meeting room.
Moved by Chestnut, seconded by Dever, to recess into executive session for 60 minutes at 7:45 p.m. for the purpose of discussing possible acquisition of real estate. The justification is to keep possible terms and conditions of a possible acquisition confidential at this time. Motion carried unanimously.
After returning from executive session at 8:45 p.m. Mayor Hack said the City would bid on Farmland project and this item would be on next week’s City Commission agenda. (14)
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS:
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TBD
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Salvation Army Site Plan and Rezoning; Retail Marketing Analysis Code provisions Neighborhood Revitalization Act proposals for target neighborhoods and downtown; NRA policy statement Special Use Permit information for Alcohol Establishments and Entertainment Venue Ordinance Public Meeting Scheduled for July 11 Adoption of Joint City Ordinance No. 8097, and County Resolution No. ____, to replace Chapter Seven – Industrial and Employment Related Land Use, in Horizon 2020 with a revised Chapter 7 entitled “Chapter 7 – Industrial and Employment Related Land Use in Horizon 2020, CPA-2004-02 Edition”, and repealing the existing chapter. |
(14)
Moved by Amyx, seconded by Highberger, to adjourn at 8:50 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.
APPROVED _____________________________
Sue Hack, Mayor
ATTEST:
___________________________________
Frank S. Reeb, City Clerk
1. Bid- 2007 Overlay and Curb Program Phase 2 to LRM Industries for $1,110,652.60.
2. Renew coverage – Emergency Services Insurance Program for Fire/Medical Dept. for $75,572 & Affiliated FM for City’s building/property coverage for $125,227
3. Contract - KS Engineering for instrumentation & control engineering services for Clinton Water Treatment Plant Phase II Expansion.
4. Bid Date Set- July 24, 2007 for Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program.
5. Ordinance No. 8098- 2nd Read, Development Code, June 12, 2007 Edition.
6. Annex – 142 acres, N of KS Turnpike & E & W of N. 7th.
7. Subordination Agreements- Catherine McNish, 1002 Home Circle; Ivan & Gloria Ray, 1001 Home Circle.
8. City Manager’s Report.
9. Vision Statement - Community Commission on Homelessness.
10. Design-Build Contract – CAS Construction for Wakarusa Water Reclamation Facility.
11. Design-Build Contract – Black & Veatch/Grimm Construction for Wakarusa Water Reclamation Facility
12. Public Comment
13. Future Agenda Items.
14. Commission Items.