HomeMy Public PortalAbout07-05-2012THE BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY OF
THE CITY OF RICHMOND, INDIANA, JULY 5, 2012
The Board of Public Works and Safety of the City of Richmond, Indiana, met at 5:00 P.M.,
Thursday, July 5, 2012, in the Council Chambers at the Municipal Building, 50 North 5th Street,
Richmond, Indiana. In attendance were Board Members Vicki Robinson, Dian Lawson and
Tony Foster. Also attending were Assistant City Attorney Kim Vessels, Community
Development Specialist Sharon Palmer and Director of Information Technology Doug Goss.
The following business was conducted:
CALL TO ORDER
Ms. Robinson called the meeting to order and noted for the minutes that all board members and
legal counsel were present.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Ms. Robinson made a request to the board to approve the minutes for the July 28, 2012 meeting.
Ms. Lawson moved to approve with a second by Ms. Robinson. The motion was unanimously
passed.
CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT
Ms. Robinson made a request to the board to approve the revised claims for payment for June 29,
2012 that included a check that was issued on June 29, 2012 to Eastside Commercial Park in the
amount of $200,000.00 for the construction of a commercial site on East Main Street. Mr. Foster
moved to approve with a second by Ms. Lawson. The motion was unanimously passed. Ms.
Robinson made a request to the board to approve the claims for payment for July 6, 2012 in the
amount of $62,952.71. Ms. Lawson moved to approve with a second by Mr. Foster. The motion
was unanimously passed.
APPOINTMENT
A. Mr. Foster moved to table the request to appoint David Spradling to Probationary
Officer of the Richmond Police Department until more information could be obtained
from the Richmond Police Department with a second by Ms. Lawson. The motion
was unanimously passed.
Board of Works Minutes
July 15, 2012
Page 2 of 5
RESOLUTION
A. Resolution No 12 -2012 is approving the addendum to Contract No. 160 -2012 that is
the Substance Abuse Policy for the Rose View Transit with Dr. Steven Moffitt
working out of Midwest Toxicology Services to perform drug testing for Rose View
Transit. Ms. Vessels explained to the board that the addendum that was submitted
was a revised fee schedule showing that the drug testing went up by $2.00 and the
Supervising Training notebook went down by $10.00. Ms. Lawson moved to
approve with a second by Mr. Foster. The motion was unanimously passed.
CHANGE ORDERS
A. Change Order No. 6 to Contract No. 174 -2011 with Trademark Construction LLC
reduces the contract by $20,091.62. Ms. Palmer explained to the board that
Trademark Construction has done a great job in shopping for the best prices to save
money. The monies that are saved will be put towards other NSP properties that still
need to be done. Mr. Foster moved to approve with a second by Ms. Lawson. The
motion was unanimously passed.
B. Change Order No. 7 to Contract No. 174 -2011 with Trademark Construction LLC.
This change order movies monies around into different line items for the NSP
property at 626 South 8t11 Street. The amount of the contract is not changed it just
provides a paper trail showing the expenditures for the property. Ms. Lawson moved
to approve with a second by Mr. Foster. The motion was unanimously passed.
ADDENDUM
A. Addendum No. 1 to Contract No. 184 -2010 with AECOM for Environmental
Remediation Services for the former Gas building. Mr. Foster explained that this
project was being funded by State & Federal Grants, private contributions and
$15,000.00 of local money. Ms. Lawson moved to approve with a second by Mr.
Foster. The motion was unanimously passed.
CONTRACTS
A. Contract No. 77 -2012 between the City of Richmond, Unified Group Services and
Wolf & Associates, P.C. for the subrogation claims. Mr. Foster moved to approve
with a second by Ms. Lawson. The motion was unanimously passed.
B. Contract no. 83 -2012 with Trademark Construction LLC for the rehabilitation of 215
South 10th Street as part of the NSP 3 Project not to exceed $161,041.00. It was
noted for the minutes that this is all 100% NSP 3 federal funds. Ms. Lawson moved
to approve with a second by Mr. Foster. The motion was unanimously passed.
C. Contract No. 85 -2012 with Beard Masonry, Inc for the North 8th and "D" Street
Parking Lot Retaining Wall Project not to exceed $44,742.00. Ms Lawson moved to
approve with a second by Mr. Foster. The motion was unanimously passed.
Board of Works Minutes
July 15, 2012
Page 3 of 5
D. Contract No. 86 -2012 with Active Network for the development of the New City
Website in the amount of $46,176.00. Mr. Goss asked that this be included in the
minutes:
I want to take this opportunity to briefly elaborate some on the City Website. As
Director of Information Technology I am responsible for the City website. As I have
said before, our current website is a great disappointment and does not reflect well
upon the city.
When I started with the city just a little over four years ago the current website was
brand new. It was supposed to be updated on a regular basis by each individual
department, not just the IT department. But do to a non user friendly interface to
accomplish this it became rare that this occurred. Even the IT department had issues
with figuring out where to go within the interface to update something.
I also learned that there had been several failed attempts at creating an acceptable
website prior to my arrival.
The situation became worse when the current city website was hacked. Not once but
twice. We tried to work with the vendor who created the site as well as the hosting
company with no success. What many people don't realize is all government websites,
including the City of Richmond Indiana, are under constant attack.
Approximately, 1 -112 years ago I started the process of replacing the current website.
Since there were several failed attempts at a successful website I wanted to make sure
that this one will be a success. I started to come up with a plan and started to
implement that plan. I created a website committee and after talking with a local
website development firm, we decided to hire them to give us recommendations for the
redevelopment of the website.
They conducted several interviews with various groups internal and external. They
conducted surveys of City Employees, Elected Officials, and the general public. From
these surveys we learned what information people would like to see on the City
website. We then asked that firm to do the development of the site. They refused. This
set us back almost to square one.
I then wrote a Request For Proposal and sent it out to several possible website
development vendors. Several local and several national companies. We received only
3 responses; I local 2 national. We asked the local company and I of the national
companies to give a presentation to the committee. The company we chose gave a
fabulous 6 hour presentation.
The Active Network was able to demonstrate every item we requested in the Request
For Proposal plus some. They have experience doing many of local government
websites as well as other organizations. Some of these organizations include State of
Board of Works Minutes
July 15, 2012
Page 4 of 5
New York, San Francisco, Notre Dame, New York City, IBM, Star Bucks, Iron Man
and the State of Georgia.
The bid for the website was awarded back in January. Since then we have been in
negotiation with them over language in the contract. We also had to do a great
amount of due diligence in regarded to accepting credit cards. State law required
approval of the fiscal governing body as well as that the way the city accepts credit
cards be done in a uniform manner. Initially, the contract would not have been
uniform with the way the city has and is accepting credit cards now.
A great amount of research was completed by the law department, myself and the
controllers office to determine the best way to meet the uniform requirement.
Our new website will be rolled out in phases. ONE of the things our surveys indicate
is people want to know what there is to do in the City of Richmond. Active Networks is
very strong in event management or Parks and Recreation. The new website will
eventually allow users to register for Park programs, rent shelters and get a tee time
for golf. It will also replace and integrate with our park point of sale system.
It will also have a Citizen Request Management System. This will be were citizens can
basically put in work orders for things like pot holes, weed issues, graffiti etc.
The list of features could go on and on. We have seen the user interface and feel that it
is user friendly. We also have a plan to help hold those assigned to update the website
accountable. There will also be a lot of training.
I'm sorry that this process has been so drawn out. It has been frustrating to me. I have
lost sleep over the issue. Especially, when it has become apolitical kick ball. At any
time I would have gladly spoke with anyone regarding the issue. Very few ever spoke
to me.
I would like to request that the board approve contract # 86 -2012 for the amount not
to exceed $46,176 for website development by The Active Network.
Ms. Lawson asked if there was any way around the City having to pay the fees
associated with taking the credit cards. She felt that maybe the Council was short
sited when they passed the ordinance allowing the City to take credit cards saying the
City would pay the fees and maybe they shouldn't have passed the ordinance
allowing the City to take credit cards.
Mr. Goss reminded her that the ordinance had passed and there was a lot of research
done and if the City had been with Active Network last year the City would have
saved money. He said that the problem with going with a fee paid by the consumer
would make a $1.00 hotdog become a $2.00 hotdog making the low end sales greatly
suffer. He went on to explain that it would be hard to explain to someone why they
had to pay more for a hotdog then they did the year before.
Board of Works Minutes
July 15, 2012
Page 5 of 5
Ms. Lawson asked how this company will save the City money on credit cards and
was told by Mr. Goss that there are many different variables to determine how the
fees are implemented. When she asked the question again he told her that if you look
at what the City paid in fees last year and if they would have been with Active
Network at that time they would have saved the City money.
Ms. Vessels told Ms. Lawson that the Controller's Office would be monitoring the
fees to make sure that it would be saving the City money. Mr. Goss said that he
would be more than willing to bring up a spread sheet on the computer and share the
cost savings with anyone.
Mr. Foster then asked what would be the timeline to get this all implemented and Mr.
Goss said he wasn't sure but was hoping to have it up and running by the end of the
year if not sooner.
Mr. Foster then moved to approve with a second by Ms. Lawson. The motion was
unanimously passed.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Ms Robinson announced that there was a final meeting previously scheduled for tonight after
regular Board of Works items concerning Firefighter Grievance 27 -2012. Due to
miscommunication that Final Meeting will be rescheduled at a later date to be determined.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, on a motion duly made, seconded and passed unanimously. The
meeting was adjourned.
S/S Vicki Robinson
Vicki Robinson, President
ATTEST: S/S Monica Burns
Monica Burns, Deputy Clerk
A recording of this meeting is on file in the Office of the City Clerk.