The Finance Committee met 06/26/2023. One of the items they took up was a request to award the dance studio flooring contract to CMG Flooring for a project total not to exceed $75,943 along with a budget amendment to take $100,000 from the City Hall Elevator Project and move it to the Dance Studio Move/Construction project.
The approval of the Fox Commons Development Agreement for City Center means that the city-run dance studios currently located in City Center need to move elsewhere. On 04/24/2023, the Finance Committee voted to approve leasing space in Northland Mall for the studio. Part of the buyout agreement with Dark Horse, the Fox Common’s developer, included a payment to the city of $100,000 to help cover moving expenses and defray the increased rent cost at the new location. Because the funds from Dark Horse were not going to be paid until after work on the new dance studios needed to commence, staff was requesting that left-over money from the City Hall Elevator Replacement project be moved over to the Dance Studio Flooring project so that work could commence and the studio could be ready by the end of July.
The committee voted 4-0 to approve the requests.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.
Director of Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Dean Gazza explained to the committee that they needed to begin outfitting the new dance studio right away so that classes could start in mid-August. They needed to get the walls built and the flooring installed.
The floor of the new space in Northland Mall was concrete, so rather than put in hardwood floors, they planned to install a hard rubberized mat which was similar to what Green Bay used for its dance program. It was low maintenance, only requiring being wiped down with water for cleaning, it never needed to be refinished, and it had a long life.
Director Gazza said that it had been difficult to find a company willing and able to install it. He had wanted to get three estimates, but two of the companies indicated their schedule would not allow them to install it during the timeframe Appleton needed it installed. The last one, CMG Flooring, however, was able to install it the last week of July. Although they were an out-of-state company that had not done work with the city before, they were a certified installer for the type of flooring that would be put in the space.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) asked what the $100,000 would pay for. Director Gazza responded that the flooring would be the most expensive item, followed by building some dividing walls, and then move from City Center to the new space. Additionally, they were facing an increase in rent. When he factored all of those things out, he came up with a figure of around $125,000. Although they did not get that full amount from Dark Horse, they did get much of it with the $100,000 that was finally agreed upon which was far more than the $20,000 Dark Horse had initially offered.
Alderperson Hartzheim was concerned about whether the $65,000 cost of the floor that they had been quoted was inappropriately high. Director Gazza said that the cost of materials accounted for over $50,000 if that quote. He felt good about being able to break out the cost of labor and the cost of materials.
Alderperson Hartzheim asked if the city would own these materials even though they were leasing the space in Northland. Director Gazza responded that their expectation would be to take the flooring with them if they ended up leaving the space; however, he did caution that it would be challenging to do that given that they were having the flooring professionally installed. He wasn’t sure what sort of condition it would be in if they tried to remove it and take it with them.
The committee voted 4-0 to approve the contract request and the budget amendment.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1101378&GUID=FA34473A-2482-4BA0-8EA1-BCA60A736EE7
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