The Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District
Board of Trustees Meeting
Thursday, September 19, 2013 – 6:30 p.m.
Maquoketa Valley Middle School Conference Room
Delhi, IA
The meeting of the Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District Board of Trustees was called to order by President Steve Leonard at 6:30 PM at the Maquoketa Valley Middle School Conference Room.
Trustees present: Leonard, Kramer, Burger, Davidson, Kray, Schneider and Gifford by phone
Trustees absent: N/A
Visitors: Greg Bandfield, Larry Peter, Clark Gochenour, Nancy Gochenour, Jerry Ries, Tom Cook, Marilyn Cook, Barb DeKlotz, David Larson, Diane Bauers, Lou Christiansen, Sue Christiansen, Marcheta Cooey Lux, Bill Lux, Bill Hughes, Bonnie Hughes, Bob Galiher, Lola Galiher, Doug Ricklefs, Nancy Ricklefs, Jim Willey, Pat Colgan, Chloe Colgan, Carol Stachura, John Hess
Agenda reviewed by Leonard. Motion made by Kray to approve agenda, Davidson second. All ayes, motion passed.
Kray requested approval of minutes for the 8/15/13, 8/28/13 and 9/5/13 meetings. Burger made motion to approve, Kramer second. All ayes, motion passed.
Kramer covered billings requiring approval for payment. Payments for the General Fund are Alliant Energy – $19.07; ICAP (Insurance Liability Coverage) – $3,657.00; L&L Consulting (Lobbyist) – $2,000.00; Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergman (Attorney) – $4,802.14 for a total of $10,478.21. Payments for the Bond Fund are Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergman (Attorney) – $149.86; Delaware County Abstract – $388.00; Stanley Engineering – $93,817.33; Stanley Enginnering (FEMA) – $12,765.90 for a total of $107,121.09. Burger made motion to approve all payments as presented, Schneider second. Individual roll call requested, all ayes, motion passed.
Kramer indicated the beginning balance of the General fund as of August 31, 2013 is $20,018.85 and an ending balance of $113,351.04. The transfer of monies from the bond fund took place this month. That transfer is due to the attorney fees paid from the general fund that should have been paid from the bond fund. The Dam Spillway fund had a beginning balance of $5,702,101.03 with an ending balance of $5,719,137.73 as we received some DNR reimbursement monies this month. Burger made motion to receive and file the financial report, Davidson second. All ayes, motion passed.
Leonard said in a previous meeting the board approved the agreement with the LDRA, DCCI and the District based on mediation concerning the lien by DCCI. The agreement stated that the payment to DCCI would be for a total of $30,000, the District paying $25,000 and the LDRA paying $5,000. In addition, upon completion of the property transfer to the district, the district will pay $2,500 back to the LDRA. Burger made motion to make a payment of $25,000 to DCCI now and $2,500 to the LDRA when the transfer of property is complete, Kramer second. Individual roll call requested, all ayes, motion passed.
Burger discussed the insurance levels for the construction bids and advised Stanley will no longer recommend levels for the contracts due to legal reasons. Burger did research with insurance companies, ICAP and other sources and the majority of the recommendations were for the District to carry an insurance level at $1,000,000 and a $5,000,000 umbrella policy. He does have the question with a liability carrier right now and they will give recommendations. Burger asked Bill Holman to give him the information on the last dam that Stanley worked on. We will also name the county and state as additionally insured on the policies. Once all of the information is accumulated, Burger will email the details out to the board for email approval. Colgan said we have to complement what we already have and whatever levels we come up with, the contractor will cover in his bid. Burger said that builder’s risk insurance is in the specs that Bill Holman sent out and it asks the contractor to provide builder’s risk insurance, however, Burger is also asking ICAP for a quote on this type of insurance. Kray asked Colgan if it was his opinion that the district should pay for builder’s risk insurance. Colgan said a contract is a risk and that risk should be assigned to the best party that can take it. Burger said Cardinal Construction in Waterloo usually does the builder’s risk insurance. Colgan said we need to make sure the risk is covered and it is only for one year. Burger made a motion to table the insurance issue for this evening and take action on the insurance amounts via email before Thursday, September 26th, but authorize the action at the next board meeting Davidson second, all ayes, motion passed.
Colgan began discussion regarding the bid documents by saying the construction is routine but there is always risk and if things go well we will be done by November of next year. Our risk is weather and the contractor. Colgan would like to get as many as possible involved and for the next 12 months lets just focus on getting the lake back because it will take all of our collective efforts to get it done. The good news is the cost estimate is $4.4 million for phase 1. There are 6 good capable contractors that are interested in this work. We will have open bidding which allows the bid documents to hit national exchanges and newspapers so other contractors besides these 6 can place a proposal. The documents are pretty strict as the contractor and superintendent has to have experience in this kind of work. The contractor will pick the vendors but he will be the overall responsible party for the work. Our Stanley engineer will be our field representative and full time field support to make sure of quality and that things get done according to design. The engineer will verify quantity and quality and will recommend to us how to pay. The Dam Construction committee is diverse and has a lot of ideas and we will use their expertise. The contractor will read through the first 7 pages of the ‘instructions to bidders’ document and decide if they are interested in the project which for Phase I is focused on mechanical and electrical. Davidson asked if we will make our decision on price? Colgan said will evaluate based on low bid, but evaluated bid. If all the bids are equal, we will go with the low bid. Colgan further explained how the bid process will work. We will decide what day and time the bids need to be returned. The District will then take the sealed bids from the court house to the conference room at the bank and as soon as we get there, we will open the bids. We will note the name of the contractor’s name, the amount bid and then Stanley will immediately go into the evaluation phase which will take one week. After Stanley’s evaluation, the board will vote to accept a bid. The clock starts with the contractor on the ‘notice to proceed’ date which we are currently looking at possibly November 4th. If we have issues with the permits and/or construction easements and we are not ready, there could be an owner caused delay. Colgan would prefer to avoid that so the District can’t be accused of the contractor falling behind on his schedule. Colgan feels good about the permits and the easements, however we just need to be cautious. After awarding the contract, we will have an all day administrative meeting with the successful contractor. Each month we will have a progress meeting and we expect the contractor to be organized because he is the main contact for us. Stanley Engineering will act as a consultant for us on the build and make sure the work is done.
Leonard indicated we need the insurance numbers and the bid dates to move forward. The first type of work that will be done on the bid is to order the gates and other equipment needed, however, we could say the field work won’t start until December 4th for example. We can also do addendums to the contract during the bid period up to the last week before the letting date (for example we could change the start date). Colgan said most of the work this year is removal of debris and forming up, etc. Colgan said Larry Peter will help a lot because he is here and will be his eyes and ears.
Colgan also said the Army Corp of Engineers and SHPO might be changing to a programmatic agreement and may have more items for us to work out. There is a new director at SHPO and we are having a conference call with them on Monday and will know more then and see if there are further delays.
Burger made motion to accept the complete bid package, Kramer second. All ayes, motion passed.
Burger made motion to authorize the board to send out the bid on Phase I to rebuild the Lake Delhi Dam with Colgan being the lead on establishing the dates, Davidson second. Davidson said we are relying heavily on Colgan’s opinion and his help is greatly appreciated. Colgan said stepping into unknown and is exciting. All ayes, motion passed.
Kramer discussed the possibility of purchasing a fire proof filing cabinet because of the need to file abstracts just received. Kramer went to the old LDRA office and there is a fire proof cabinet so she indicated we can table this for now. Burger said we received the equipment in the property transfer but they maintain old records and we may need to purchase some new filing cabinets. Colgan said will be important to keep records. Kramer made motion to table, Burger second. All ayes, motion passed.
Leonard reviewed committee assignments and the majority of the committees will stay the same. Colgan said there is a pre-construction meeting within 2 weeks of notice to proceed with the contractor and the Finance Committee should come to that meeting and possibly Carla Becker, the County Auditor. This meeting will discuss how the money is to flow and then there will be progress meetings bi-weekly.
Dam Construction Committee roles and responsibilities were put in writing by Colgan to explain what will be done what the committee won’t do. Colgan read his member’s names and their expertise and said he was very happy with the variety of background we have.
Colgan said once the concrete is done in Phase I, the coffer dam will be installed and the river will rise about 20 feet down by the dam. This means all debris and tree removal is the most critical thing to be done this fall. Kramer said ATI is going to volunteer to assist by allowing us the use of equipment they would like to test.
The timing and number of meetings was discussed as there is a a lot of work to be done and it may be beneficial for us to meet on a more frequent basis. Kramer said another issue is with our approval of payments and when we get that approval to the County to pay the bills. We would need to have our meeting on the first Tuesday of the month to approve the claims. Burger said maybe the Finance Committee should approve in their meetings and then send them to Carla earlier and then the full board would approve the payments. Kramer said her concern is when the construction bills come in it will be important to be timely. Burger said he has an issue with meeting 2 nights a month and would rather have special meetings when we need to meet. Kramer said to table this issue and she will speak with the County Auditor again.
Committee update – FEMA – there is a meeting set up with FEMA and Homeland Security on October 1st to go over the 2008 issues. Legislative committee – met with the County Supervisors at their regular meeting and gave an update of our withdrawal from FEMA. The MOA with the LDRA has been signed and the deed is prepared and in the hands of the LDRA attorney. Property Management Committee has nothing to update.
Public comment – Bob Galiher advised the Water Quality committee is going to meet on September 28th at 9am at the Heritage Bank in Delhi.
Jack Hess said there were old records at the old LDRA building and he feels it is important to keep those records for historical reasons. Hess also said he is anxious for the lake bed management information as they are waiting to be told what to do.
Nancy Gochenour asked where does the different monies come from and Leonard explained they are from the state, our bond and general fund (which is the 4% tax). The debt service fund is to pay down the bond so it shows the tax collected and is more of a monies in and monies out account.
Bill Lux asked Colgan what will be the interaction between Stanley and the contractor if the work being done is subpar. Colgan advised he will have a say in that and to enforce the contract. He will be depending on the construction committee to go out and see those things. That is one reason it is imperative that we get a good contractor.
Burger made motion to adjourn, Davidson second. All ayes, motion passed.