SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOWIE CITY COUNCIL
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2008
CALL MEETING TO ORDER
The Special Meeting of the Bowie City Council was held on Monday, October 13, 2008 in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Mayor Robinson called the meeting to order at 10:10 p.m.
QUORUM
In attendance were Mayor Robinson, Councilmembers Brady, Marcos, Polangin, Trouth, Turner and Valentino-Smith; City Manager Deutsch, Assistant City Manager Fitzwater, the Press, and the Public.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
The Council led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
NEW BUSINESS:
A. City Hall/HVAC System - Mr. John Fitzwater summarized the staff report
dated October 6, 2008, a copy of which is on file at City Hall. He reported
that the City continues to move forward with the City Hall project; the design
process is now 40% complete; have gone through the schematic design phase,
the design development phase and are now in the construction document phase.
He said several issues have arisen that warrant Council consideration that
will have an impact on the budget: 1) Extent to which we provide power to the
new City Hall when electricity is lost: Options are to provide full power to
City Hall vs. providing partial power to a portion of the building. He said
that staff feels full power should be provided in emergency situations; this
has become the expectation of the community and provision and continuity of
City services is important. 2) Related to the first issue is the size of the
generator necessary to support the power production: If full power is provided
to the facility, a generator would need to be a size between 1000 KW and 1500
KW depending on the size of the heating system. If partial power is provided,
a 500 KW generator could be used. He said that because staff is recommending
full power in emergency situations, staff therefore recommends that a larger
generator be used for the facility. 3) Relocating the generator outside of
the building rather than inside as originally proposed: The cost estimate indicates
that it is approximately $134,000 less to install a generator outside of the
building; because of this and a number of other reasons noted in the staff
report, staff is recommending the generator be located outside of the building;
if the decision is supported, a sound enclosure would be built around the generator
to contain noise. Mr. Fitzwater passed out a photograph of generators located
at Roanoke Public Safety facility which is a 1500 KW generator next to a 10,000
gallon diesel fuel tank. He said
the nearest residence to the generator at the new City Hall facility would
be at the Palisades across Excalibur Road; there is an open area in front
of where the residences are located; the generator would also be partially
behind a retaining wall. 4) Staff is recommending, with regard to the size
and location of the fuel tank associated with the generator, that because
of environmental and regulatory issues surrounding underground fuel tanks,
an above ground tank be installed; and, because a large generator uses a
significant amount of fuel, staff recommends that the size of the tank be
increased from 3000 to 5000 gallons which represents a $10,800 additional
cost. 5) From the Value Engineering process a decision was made to move from
a natural gas HVAC system to an all electric HVAC system; the reason was
that it would save approximately $553,000 in initial construction costs;
however, after reviewing this further it was determined that an all electric
HVAC system is about $35,000 per year more costly to operate than a natural
gas system; from an environmental perspective a natural gas system is more
earth friendly and does not generate the greenhouse gas emissions that are
generated in terms of the production of electricity; this would also help
with obtaining the LEED Silver rating. Mr. Fitzwater said that should Council
agree with the recommendation to power the entire building, to convert back
to natural gas and put a 1000 KW generator outside with a 5000 gallon above
ground fuel tank, this would add about $1,013,000 to the project; and staff
further recommends that the construction design cost with Grimm & Parker
be modified from $25,000,000 to $26,013,615; this represents about a 4% increase;
staff also recommends consulting with the City financial advisor, Davenport
and Associates to determine their recommendation as to the best combination
of funding using fund balance or borrowing for this project. Mr. Fitzwater
then indicated it would cost approximately $80,000 per year to borrow an
additional $1,000,000 and that the City would save $35,000 per year in reducing
operating costs by converting back to natural gas over the next 20 years
and noted that after 20 years the City would continue to have a reduced operating
cost of $35,000 per year; another financial position is that the City does
not have any general fund debt. He emphasized that staff is cognizant of
the current economic situation and market conditions; staff has talked to
the City's financial advisor and he indicates that there should be stability
in the municipal bond market when the City goes to the bond market in February
2009; staff will continue to monitor the market situation and will provide
information to City Council's attention at pre-budget meetings. He indicated
that the cost of commodities has dropped significantly. He asked that Council
support the changes recommended.
City Manager Deutsch added that with the contraction in the economy, some private sector jobs are being shelved which may lead to a very competitive bidding climate that may have contractors looking for projects of this size.
Since there were no persons signed up to speak, Mayor Robinson declared the public hearing to have been held.
Following questions from Council, Councilmember Brady moved to accept the staff recommendations as detailed on Pages 5 and 6 of the staff report. Councilmember Marcos seconded the motion; the motion incorporated that staff will come back to Council with a plan on noise and aesthetic attenuation.
Mayor Pro Tem Turner said if it is a question of an additional cost that is not in the motion now, he would not support the motion. He said he is supportive of getting a generator that will fully power the building, but has to look at the cost factor.
The motion carried with a vote of 5-1-1 (Turner - nay; Valentino-Smith - abstain).
B. Response to Councilmember Trouth re: e-mail from resident - City Manager Deutsch reported that the e-mail was sent to several councilmembers from a resident who was concerned about 2 motor vehicle accidents in the last several weeks; the resident's property backs up to Belair Drive and both vehicles involved in the accidents ended up in the resident's property. He said that he has indicated to the resident that the Traffic Calming item will be on the Council's agenda of October 13, 2008; additional information will be provided to the resident later this week.
ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Pro Tem Turner moved to adjourn the special meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Trouth and carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Pamela A. Fleming, CMC
City Clerk