The Common Council met 09/18/2024. The one item separated out for an individual vote was the request to award a contract in the amount of $48,100.37 to Nordon Business Environments to provide two police workstations.
This item was the subject of a special meeting of the Finance Committee just prior to the Common Council meeting. Some concerns were raised regarding the high cost of contract, but, in spite of those concerns, it was approved unanimously by both the Finance Committee and the Common Council.
I’ve prepared transcripts of the discussions at both the Finance Committee and the Common Council:
During the Finance Committee meeting, Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Tom Flick explained why the price tag was so high for these workstations. The furniture, chairs, and equipment for the workstations was standard and accounted for around $14,000 of the cost. The remaining $34,000 covered the cost of the walls for which the city was receiving the lowest price from the vendor.
Per Deputy Director Flick, “These walls allow the flexibility not just for PD but for all the departments, if we were to want to reuse this equipment in another setting, another layout, if there was a need. This is moving towards, I’d say, a standardization of office walls. These walls are also insulated to meet HIPAA law requirements for privacy for the staff members that will be utilizing these offices. Heavily constructed, they are your typical steel frame door with the wooden with the wooden door, kind of similar to what’s in here, again, for sound barriers, etc.”
He told the committee that staff could probably construct the walls at less expense, but they did not have the time or labor hours to do that. If they had to put such a project out for a public bid it would most likely end up more expensive than the modular walls they were proposing purchasing.
The walls could be reused both in the Police Department or elsewhere in the city.
Alderperson Brad Firkus (District 3) asked how often in the city modular units had been repurposed. The short answer seems to be that this had not happened historically because the city seemed to have only started utilizing modular units.
Deputy Director Flick responded that they only started using modular units with the Health Department remodel and now would be using them for these two offices in the Police Department. In the 2025 budget they would be asking for funds to renovate the Parks and Recreation Department, and during that remodel they would look to use modular units. They were starting the process of standardizing the furniture through the city’s complexes.
Alderperson Firkus commented that he had been told these units were expensive and much more complex than regular stud and drywall construction. Deputy Director Flick agreed that they were expensive but allowed for greater flexibility.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) thought that it was important for these two workstations to be modular because although the two positions that would be housed there were currently embedded in the Police Department, they might be moved to a different department at some point in the future, and it was important to be able to essentially pick them up and move them wherever they needed to go.
At the same time, she was somewhat concerned about the price tag, but that concern was decreased because the money to pay for these workstations was coming from American Recovery Plan Act funds not from budgeted tax dollars.
The item was not discussed at any length during the Common Council meeting, but Alderperson Hartzheim did reiterate that, in this case, she was tolerant of the high price tag because the modules would be able to be moved if necessary, but she was worried about this setting a precedent for future purchases.
The item was approved unanimously by both the Finance Committee and the Common Council.
View full Finance Committee meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1229802&GUID=F4ABAD52-0216-4A4C-AC75-90B531D58751
View full Common Council meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1213516&GUID=2E6A78BD-03B1-46F9-8F7E-76AA16CD9E37
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