The Appleton Finance Committee met 05/24/2021. It was a brief meeting–only 9 minutes long–nevertheless they did conduct business and there were a couple interesting parts.
They took up the first three agenda items together.
1. 21-0719 Request to award Unit E-21 Miscellaneous Concrete & Street Excavation Repair to Fischer-Ulman Construction, Inc in the amount of $532,500 with a 6.2% contingency of $33,000 for a project total not to exceed $565,500
2. 21-0720 Request to award Unit L-21 Sewer and Water Construction – Lightning Drive and Edgewood Drive to Feaker and Sons Co, Inc in the amount of $1,004,464 with a 5% contingency of $50,000 for a project total not to exceed $1,054,464
3. 21-0721 Request to award Unit Y-21 Sewer & Water Reconstruction No. 3 to Kruczek Construction, Inc in the amount of $797,798 with a 7.5% contingency of $60,073 for a project total not to exceed $857,871
There was a motion to approve and then the floor was opened for questions.
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) had a general question. She wondered how the city determined the contingency and if they monitored projects to see how often contingencies were hit. [Note: the construction contingency is the “amount of money allocated to pay for additional or unexpected costs during [a] construction project.”]
Director Paula Vandehey said that each contingency is looked at a little differently. One thing they consider is the total budget amount because they can’t have a contingency above what they have budgeted for a project. They also look at the complexity of a project. If there are known issues (she gave an example of bad soils in an area) that could cause problems, they may have a higher contingency of 15%-20%. If the project is straightforward they may keep the contingency lower at 5%-10%.
She noted that even though the contingency is approved, they still need to get that money through a change order. If the change order meets certain criteria, it will appear as an information item at the Finance Committee. It it is over a certain amount, then it will appear as an action item for the Finance Committee to vote on.
She said they do take a good look at their contingencies and all of the directors in charge of projects are pretty tough regarding contingencies and requests for change orders.
There were no other questions and the three items were all approved unanimously.
The next item they took up was “21-0722 Anticipated Award of Unit AA-21 Pacific St over Peabody Park – Bridge Maintenance (bids to be opened Monday, May 24, 2021).”
The bids were only opened the day of the meeting. The lowest bid was from Norcon Corporation and the finalized agenda item was to award the project to them “in the amount of $207,717 with a 15% contingency of $31,157 for a project total not to exceed $238,874”
Director Vandehey said the received 3 bids from very reliable companies, and the city has worked with Norcon before and had no reservations awarding the contract to them.
Alderperson Vered Meltzer (District 2) had not been given a copy of the contract award paperwork prior to the meeting and had to borrow another alderperson’s copy in order to review it.
Alderperson Van Zeeland was appearing at the committee meeting remotely and, therefore, had also not received a copy. She clarified with those in the room what was on the document, and it was also confirmed that that document (which, due to the timing issues, had not been included in the agenda packet) would be attached to the meeting minutes.
The committee went on to approve the item 4-0 with Alderperson Van Zeeland abstaining. [I thought that was very responsible of her to abstain from voting since she didn’t have the paperwork in front of her and wasn’t able to review it properly.]
Approved 4-0 with Alderperson Van Zeeland abstaining because she didn’t have the paper with the info.
The final action item was item 21-0723 “Request to approve the following 2021 Budget amendments: Public Works Capital Projects Fund Spartan Drive Land +$73,107 Lightning Drive Land – $73,107 Stormwater Utility Land +$64,893 Storm Sewer Reconstruction – $64,893 to reallocate positive bid variances to purchase land for future Spartan Drive and associated stormwater management (2/3 vote of Council required).”
The committee had no questions regarding those budget amendments and they were approved unanimously.
They then reviewed the one informational item on the agenda. “The following 2021 Budget adjustments were approved by the Mayor and Finance Director in accordance with Policy: Reid Golf Course Donations +$ 1,016 Supplies +$ 1,016 to record donation from Marcia Felton for a memorial bench at Reid Golf Course.”
With that out of the way, they were free to adjourn.
View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=859390&GUID=80F3A96C-56C5-4D08-93B5-20CA470440F6&Options=info|&Search=
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